How a homeland was born
by DangoCorn
Summary: Robin put one hand over her mouth and the other gripped Zoro's shoulder tightly as she tried to keep her balance. She took a few deep breaths before saying, "Mother?" The moment that word escaped Robin's mouth, many emotions came over her. Memories of her island and the few she had of her mother came back to her all at once.
1. Chapter 1

The crew docked temporarily near an island because after an intense fight they had with the navy, Franky wanted to make sure the Sunny was okay, and to fix any little bents their ship might have possibly gotten. It so happened that it was a very crowded island, with busy streets and bunched up buildings. Luffy had always found these islands fun and interesting, but they warned him not to goof around too much, because they didn't want to spend much time on it. The log pose on this island sets in a couple of days. However they didn't want it to set and mess up their rout. They'd set off again as soon as they finished checking on the Sunny.

"If you wouldn't mind, I'd like to take a walk," Robin said to Nami, who was usually the one to decide whether things were okay or not.

"Alright, and you might as well take Zoro with you. I caught him getting off the ship a little earlier but brought him back since he'd get lost," she said, looking up at the sky as if checking the weather. "But don't come back too late, there might be rain tonight."

Chopper also joined Robin and Zoro, saying he wanted to restock on bandages. There were no good book stores on this island, which was a disappointment to both Robin and Chopper. Zoro couldn't care less. In fact, he preferred not to stand around and wait as both his nakama walked back and forth and scanned bookshelves.

Once they'd walked quite a distance, and after Chopper bought what he needed, they realized that they were very far from their ship. Sighing heavily, Zoro took the lead.

"I don't think that's a very good idea," Chopper whispered. Zoro looked over at him.

"Huh? What are you talking about?"

"Zoro, why don't you let me take the lead?" Robin said.

"Why? Do you guys doubt me or something?" Zoro demanded. Both Robin and Chopper stayed quiet, not giving him an answer. Zoro groaned, but let Robin take the lead. Chopper silently let out a sigh of relief. As the time got later, the streets became less crowded, and the weather became cooler. Robin had led them to a side street, where there were hardly any people, saying it would get them back faster. They were about to take a left when a woman stopped in front of them, wearing shabby clothes and a hat.

The woman's face was covered with scars and stitches. They could see that her hair was white, but most of it was hidden under the hat. They tried maneuvering around her, but she stopped them. She stood in front of Robin, who seemed a bit confused.

"Do I know you?" Robin asked, staying calm and staring bluntly at the woman. The woman raised her head. Her eyes were welling up with tears, which made Robin slightly uneasy. She lifted her hand and placed it on Robin's face. Immediately, the rest of the crew was alarmed.

"Robin," the woman whispered. As soon as the woman spoke, Robin's jaw dropped slightly, and she let out a sharp gasp. She shook her head and blinked a few times, then brought her head closer to the woman's face to look into her eyes and examine her features carefully. Her eyes widened and she took a step back. She began breathing heavily, and searched for a shoulder to place her hand on. Chopper was beside her, but was in his small form, so she ended up putting her hand on Zoro's since he was standing behind her.

"Robin, who is she? What's wrong?" Chopper asked, eyeing the woman carefully. Her crewmates remembered what had happened with Aokiji, and were worried something similar might happen again. The woman had the exact same sharp nose as Robin's, and the same blue eyes. Robin put one hand over her mouth while the other gripped Zoro's shoulder tightly as she tried to keep her balance.

She took a few deep breaths before saying, "Mother?"

The moment that word escaped Robin's mouth, many emotions came over her. Memories of her island and the few she had of her mother came back to her all at once. Questions overflowed in Robin's mind, causing her head to hurt. The crew was staring back and forth between Robin and this woman she called her mother, shocked and confused. After slightly recovering from the surprise, Robin did the one thing her guts told her to do. She let go of Zoro's shoulder, brought her hand away from her mouth, and came closer to the woman she never thought she'd see again. Confidently, she wrapped her arms around her. Tears ran down her mother's cheeks as she returned the hug. Robin felt tears forming in her eyes and an overwhelming happiness. At that moment, she put aside all the questions she had. Her mother wrapped her arms around her tightly. This was one of the rare times that Robin showed her emotional side publicly like this, and the members of the crew were a bit surprised. Not many things brought out this side of her. Robin buried her face in her mother's shoulder, something that made the crew even more shocked. She was being affectionate, as if she'd been waiting a long time for a moment like this to come. She never showed much affection to the members of her crew, except maybe Chopper or Nami, and occasionally Luffy. And even towards those three, it wasn't too extreme.

Although their hug lasted quite a long time, they still wouldn't pull away from each other. It was getting dark, and they had to get back to the Sunny, where the rest of the crew was. Zoro knew it was a very emotional event for Robin, but he cleared his throat to get her attention. Robin turned her head towards him. The expression on her face was indescribable. Her eyes showed relief and pure happiness. It looked like she wasn't even able to speak.

"Zoro and I are heading back, since it's getting late," Chopper said, patting Robin's shoulder slightly. "Come back when you're ready."

Robin nodded her head, and they left. When they finally parted, Robin's mother looked at her lovingly.

"There's so much to say that I can't find any words," she said, her voice quivering from all the crying. Robin closed her eyes for a while, and then opened them. A big smile spread across her face as she and her mother walked side by side.

"Are you happy?" was the first question Robin's mother asked.

"Very," she replied.

Robin couldn't stop smiling, no matter how silly it may have looked to have a broad smile plastered on her face. They walked a long distance, saying no word. Robin couldn't hold it in any longer. She turned to face her mother.

"Where have you been?" she asked. Although she was still happy, she wore a serious expression. Her mother took a deep breath and nodded.

"A prison," she said. Robin immediately understood why she had so many scars on her face. She'd been tortured.

"I was known as a criminal back then," she continued, turning her gaze to the road in front of her. "The government held me captive for eighteen years. They…did things to try to get information out of me. The books that we tried saving twenty years ago by throwing them into water were burned. The government was scared the information in these books would be leaked, and trusted no one. Not even their own insiders. So they relied on me to give them the exact information they wanted."

Guilt suddenly showed in her mother's eyes as she lowered them. She closed her eyes for a while. "For so many years, they kept trying and I held up for a long time but then…" she shook her head, "the last years I was there I…I wasn't able to take it anymore, and I spoke. I only told them the most unimportant information I could think of about what our island's scholars discovered from the research. My lying abilities always failed me."

She placed her hand on top of her eyes, whispering, "I betrayed them, Robin."

Robin hadn't taken her eyes off her mother at all. She reached over and took her mother's hand off her face, and shook her head in reassurance.

"No, you didn't," she said.

* * *

_I know that Robin is usually never this affectionate, but I mean, since this is her mom, I felt that it was necessary to have her act that way. Hope you enjoyed it 8D!_

_ Let me know your thoughts about it!_


	2. Chapter 2

**Robin's point of view**

I led my mother to the Sunny, and helped her up on the deck. She looked around the ship and smiled. There was a ruckus in the kitchen. Once I opened the door, I realized they were having dinner. Everyone immediately turned their attention to me.

"Robin-chwan! Welcome ba-" Sanji began, then looked at my mother in bewilderment. "Who's that?"

Everyone, minus Chopper and Zoro, were staring at my mother, confused. Luffy was blinking innocently. I concluded that the crew members who were with me hadn't mentioned who I was with.

"My mother," I said, still not fully believing it myself. Nami dropped her spoon. Apparently she was the one who had heard the entire story in detail about my childhood back in Water 7, so she was the one most in shock. Luffy had gone back to eating, but was still looking towards me. There was an uncomfortable silence. Finally Sanji broke it.

"Robin-chan's mother!" he exclaimed, getting up from his seat and walking towards us. "I can see where Robin-chan's beauty comes from! Why don't you ladies come take a seat?"

Mother chuckled and followed Sanji to one of the seats. Everyone was still eyeing her carefully. Nami suddenly burst into tears, getting up and walking towards my mother. She gave her a hug. The crew, and my mother and I were all surprised. Mother returned the hug briefly, still a bit surprised by Nami's move. Luffy stopped eating long enough to greet her.

"Hi Robin's mom!" he mumbled, spitting food as he spoke. Usopp hit him on the head.

"THAT'S GROSS! BE MORE POLITE IN FRONT OF GUESTS!" Usopp yelled, then turned back to my mother. "Nice to meet you, Robin's mom!"

"Yo! You're _SUPER_ pretty!" Franky said.

"Yohoho! Hello," Brook greeted. "May I see your panties, ma'am? For some strange reason, your daughter won't allow me to see hers!"

My mother had more of an amused expression than an offended one. Nami sent a plate across the table that went straight into Brook's face. "SHUT UP!"

"I'm Chopper! Nice to meet you, Robin's mom! I'm a reindeer," Chopper said, making sure she didn't mistake him for any other kind of animal, which many people often did.

Mother, as shown on her face, was a bit overwhelmed by the strange creatures that were in the crew. A skeleton, a cyborg, and a talking reindeer were indeed unusual. Zoro gave her a nod as a greeting. The silence that followed the greetings was broken by mother's laugh.

"Your nakama are perfect, Robin," she said, a tear escaping one of her eyes. Most of them, such as Chopper, Franky, Brook, and Usopp, blushed at the compliment. Everyone settled down after that and proceeded with their dinner. Sanji served mother more food than the rest of them, I noticed. I chuckled as he hovered over her, showering her with compliments. She took the spoon in her right hand but then dropped it. She was injured. But she was able to eat with her left hand. Luffy was snatching food from everyone's plates, and ended up stretching across the table and stealing some meat off my mother's plate. She was a bit stunned. Sanji raised his foot and kicked his captain.

"WE'VE TOLERATED YOU STEALING FROM US, BUT DON'T STEAL FROM ROBIN'S MOM, YOU JERK!" he scolded. Nami, who was sitting beside my mother, apologized and gave her the piece of meat that she had on her plate.

"He's a devil fruit user, so he stretches," Nami explained, rolling her eyes. "He can be a handful."

Mother laughed. As I watched my mother and my nakama getting to know each other for the first time, I felt a joy I had never felt before. I closed my eyes for a while, just listening.

"Nami-swan! You're so pretty when you're mad!"

"UGHH!"

"Oi, Luffy! Give me back my food!"

"NO!"

"NAMI'S SCAAARYYY!"

_I can't believe this is actually happening. My mother's with me. She's eating dinner with my nakama. She's alive._

Once dinner was over, Nami and I led my mother to the room where we slept and kept our belongings. Nami closed the door behind us.

"This is wonderful!" Nami said to both me and my mother. Her eyes showed happiness, but I could see curiosity mixed in there as well. I smiled.

"It is, very wonderful," I repeated. Mother sat down on one of the beds and took her hat off. Her long hair fell, covering her shoulders and half her back. But some of it was cut off in odd places, making it uneven. I remained calm, but it bothered me, because I knew it hadn't been cut off, but removed in an "unfriendly" way.

Nami seemed to study mother's hair for a while, then she nodded, as if confirming an idea in her head. She walked over to my mother and sat beside her.

"I'm Nami, this ship's navigator. You are?" she said.

"Nico Olvia," mother answered, "an archeologist." Nami then got up, walked to a chest of drawers, and took out a pair of scissors.

"Robin, throw me that towel," she said, pointing to a towel that hung on the corner of her own bed. So I did. I sat down and watched as she settled behind my mother. She lifted her hair and placed a towel around her shoulders.

"I'm gonna give you a little haircut," she announced. Mother blinked a few times before she shrugged.

"Alright," she said. Nami combed and cut, and surprisingly she was quite good at it. I even considered asking her to give my hair a trim. Once she was finished, she bent back to admire her work. She'd cut mother's hair a little over her shoulders, and it looked much neater than before.

"I didn't know you possessed the ability to cut hair so nicely," I commented, flashing a grateful smile at her.

"I know a little thing or two," she replied, yawning. "I should get some sleep. Luffy was walking in his sleep last night and woke practically everyone up, except Zoro who was sleeping in the crow's nest, and you, who were already awake."

"Oh," Mother said. We looked over at her. She was looking in the mirror. She let out a slight giggle. "It's been forever since I last saw myself in short hair."

"And it looks great, if I do say so myself," Nami said, grinning. She turned toward the door. "I'll let you two sleep in here today. And just so you know, tomorrow morning we're leaving the island. G'night!"

I thanked her. Although I wasn't planning on sleeping that day, I did want to spend time talking to my mother more, and didn't know if it would be comfortable for her to talk about things that happened in front of anyone else.

"They're so protective of you," mother said, turning away from the mirror and sitting back on the bed.

"If you're referring to how Chopper reacted when you first came, then yes," I said.

"That, and the look Roronoa Zoro gave me," she said. "It was quite an intimidating glare."

I hadn't looked at Zoro when that happened, so I wouldn't have known. "I see."

"As you may imagine, I didn't get any news from the outside world when I was held captive. I tried my best to find you during the past two years, after I got out. I tried to conceal my identity as much as I possibly could, and avoided talking to older folks. There was a greater possibility of them knowing me than younger people."

"I tried getting information about your whereabouts and about the crew you'd joined from all over the grand line. The first year I was out of the prison, there was no clear information on who you'd joined. It was as if you weren't with anyone in particular. But near the end of last year, I heard about what happened in Enies Lobby. Not to mention the fact that the people who came for you were the Straw hats," she explained, raising one of her eyebrows at me. "You've joined quite the troublemakers."

I let out an amused laugh. "Indeed, I have. And I couldn't be more thankful for it."

I took a deep breath, removing the smile I had on my face. "How, after eighteen years of being in a prison, did you manage to escape? I doubt they just let you leave."

"Believe it or not, it was sheer luck," mother said, chuckling. "Only the government knew about this prison that I was in, which they'd built far away from the seas we're familiar with, and that held a very limited amount of prisoners. They had to keep it hidden and secretive, since everyone knew Nico Olvia as a "dead criminal". But the place I was in wasn't nearly as guarded and secured as Impel Down."

"Two years ago," she continued, "one of the prisoners fell ill, and it quickly spread. The guards caught it, including many other prisoners, and me. And it was deadly. Many prisoners died due to this illness, and most of the guards, who turned out to be very cowardly, had escaped the island to find a cure. Although it was still secured, it made the chance of escaping very high. I'd caught the disease and had turned very weak, and didn't have enough energy to even try. But the other prisoners did, and they made a very big commotion, together uniting to destroy the cells they were in. They didn't dare try before, since the guards were monstrously strong."

She laughed, slightly rolling her eyes. "As soon as they knew death was near, they put aside everything, including guarding the prisoners. It's pathetic. Many of the prisoners did manage to finally get out of their cells, and they kindly took the time to free the ones who didn't. Together, they fought the guards that surrounded the prison, but some of them died in the process."

"We were finally able to escape the island on rowboats, and were cured once we got to the next island. I am in those prisoners' debt."

I closed my eyes for a while to think things over. Suddenly I felt two hands on my cheeks. I opened my eyes to see my mother sitting in front of me.

"I'm sorry, Robin, I wasn't there for you all these years," she said, her voice breaking up. "I'm sorry you had to live your life running for so long."

"If I hadn't been running like I have, I probably would've never found my nakama," I said, smiling. "You needn't worry, you're not at fault."

"You've become such a mature adult," she commented, shaking her head. "I've missed so much."

I gave her a smile and got up.

"Sleep, you look tired," I said, walking to the door. "I'll show you around our ship's library tomorrow, I'm sure you'll like it. Good night, Mother."

"Yes, I have yet to find out what you've discovered throughout your life," she said, getting up and heading to the bed.

"Oh and, Mother is too formal. I'd rather hear you call me Mom," she said as she lay down and closed her eyes. She smiled. "Good night, Robin."


	3. Chapter 3

**Zoro's point of view**

"Where's all the sake?" I mumbled to myself as I searched the kitchen. I was keeping watch that night and wanted something to help me stay up. After getting a beating from Nami, I had to make sure I didn't fall asleep while I was on watch. _Geez, where the heck is it? Did that stupid cook hide it again?_ I slammed the fridge door shut and headed out of the kitchen.

I was heading back to the crow's nest when I noticed Robin sitting in her usual place on the deck, where she usually read. But it was nighttime, and there was no light to help her read. As I got closer, I noticed she wasn't holding a book, which surprised me. Robin always sat there with a book on hand. Instead, she had her eyes closed and I could feel an infuriated aura coming from her. _Huh. Maybe something happened with that woman she came with. Who was it? Oh yeah, her mom._ It didn't seem like a good idea to stay near her, so I turned to leave.

"Do you need anything?" I heard her say. I looked back long enough to raise an eyebrow at her.

"No," I replied. "But it's weird to see you without a book, in the dark."

I expected that amused laugh she always gave and a teasing reply, which were obnoxious, in my opinion. But she kept the cold look on her face. It was clear that she wasn't happy about something.

She got up and started walking towards her room. "_Is wanting to know more about the world a crime?! For heaven's sake,_" I heard her whisper to herself as she walked away. I didn't know whether she intended for me to hear that or not, so I stayed quiet. She stopped, looked back, and gave me a smile, which even I was able to tell was forced.

"Good luck on your watch," she said, turning her head away and leaving.

"There's nothing stopping you from raging if you're angry," I told her, heading towards the crow's nest. "You should know by now that it's no big deal if you want to express something. You see us doing it all the time."

She stopped walking.

"All you ever agree to showing us is that amused smile of yours. Just because you showed what you felt once doesn't mean you can't do it again. Geez, it's annoying."

_Psh. I mean if I was angry at that dumb cook, I wouldn't hesitate to show it. Look at Nami; she's the biggest example. Beating the crap out of us each time. Now she's got serious anger issues._

I climbed up to the crow's nest and sat down, soon giving into the temptation to have a nap. But before I fell completely asleep, I heard the door creak. My eyes shot open and I waited. No one came in. Instead, a line of arms suddenly sprouted from the doorway to where I sat. I cocked my eyebrow as I watched. A bottle of sake was being passed over from hand to hand until it got to me. The last hand placed it beside me and they gradually disappeared into flower pedals. I took the bottle, opened it, and chugged half of it down. I'd been saved from falling asleep and encountering a rage coming from Nami.

I didn't really know how to respond to Robin's action. After finishing the bottle, I tossed it aside and lay back.

"Beh! That was great," I said. If she was still there, I hoped she'd get the message. That was my way of thanking her, and I didn't want to have to actually say it. But then again she might have done that as a thank you to me in the first place. _Well, whatever._

Apparently one bottle of sake wasn't enough, and I did end up falling asleep.

I went down the crow's nest after being called for breakfast that morning with five bumps on the back of my head. Once I walked in the kitchen, everyone was there, except Robin's mom. I also noticed a pillow and blanket on the seat I usually sat on.

"What the hell is this?" I asked, pushing them off and sitting down.

"Oh, I forgot to put those away," Nami said, covering her food with her arms so Luffy wouldn't get to it. "I slept here last night."

"Oi, cook," I called out. "Where's my food?!"

"I already put out all the food I made, mosshead," Sanji said. "Luffy probably ate it."

I flashed a glare at Luffy. "Luffy…did you take my food, _again_?"

He pouted and started sweating. "Ahaha…no…"

I clenched my fist and threw a punch at him. "I'M HUNGRY, DAMMIT!"

"Oi, make me more food," I said, sitting back down.

"That's all you get, idiot. What do you take me for, your butler?"

_Crappy cook. I couldn't even take Luffy's food, he'd already finished that. _I looked around the table.

"Usopp, give me your food," I said.

"Heck no! Luffy already ate half my share," he complained.

"Chopper?"

"Sorry Zoro, I just finished mine," he said, getting up. Brook had also finished, so he was off the list.

"Franky?"

"Sure, here's a piece of meat," he said, throwing one. I was about to catch it when Luffy stretched his arm out and took it, stuffing it in his face. I got up and walked to him.

"Luffy," I whispered as I got closer.

"Yeah?" he said, clueless.

"Stop…TAKING…MY…FOOD! DAMMIT! WHAT'S YOUR PROBLEM?!" I raged, this time taking him by the collar and throwing him out of the kitchen. Everyone stared at me for a while then shrugged. Most of them knew what it was like not having one of the meals due to a certain captain.

Nami and Robin were also off the list since that cook would rage at me, and I didn't need any more things getting on my nerves that morning. Everyone filed out of the room except me. I was planning on doing a full search for that sake. Robin was able to easily find one from that power of hers. A pretty neat thing to have when it comes to looking for things.

I was about to open more cabinets when someone opened the door to the kitchen and walked in. It was Robin's mom.

"Good morning," she said as she walked in and closed the door.

"Hi," I said, turning my attention back to the cabinets. I opened it and started looking. _Where the heck did he put all those drinks, dammit?! Geez!_

I slammed the cabinet shut and groaned, then headed to the door.

"Excuse me," she said before I opened the door. "I'd like to ask you a few questions."

_Heh? What does she want with me?_

"What?" I said, turning away from the door. She pointed to a chair across from her, gesturing for me to sit. I rolled my eyes and sat down.

"Roronoa," she began, cocking her head at me. "I don't know if you're aware of this, but I hadn't seen my daughter for over twenty years."

_Okay?_

"And I would like to know more about her," she continued. "But I don't know how long I'll be able to stay here, since I can't stay on your ship. There's somewhere I need to go. So I thought I'd ask her crewmates."

"Why not ask her?" I asked.

"Oh I plan to ask her many things. But some things about her can only be noticed by people other than herself, and I don't know if I have enough time to notice everything," she explained.

I sat back and thought. _It would probably be best if she asked someone other than me, I'm no good at this sort of thing. Eh, but I'll tell her a few things I've noticed._

"Well she's probably the smartest person on the crew. She reads tons of books all the time and she knows a lot."

She waited, expecting more.

"Eh," I said, clearing my throat. "She's the quietest one, and hardly ever shows her feelings. She's been a bit better about it after what happened in Enies Lobby, but she's got a long way to go."

_Does this woman even know what happened with Robin and the government? Well, whatever. It had spread all over the world, so the chances that she doesn't know are pretty slim._

Her mom was quiet for a while, lost in thought.

"I believe she was angry last night," she finally said. "She was acting normal, but something about her seemed off."

"I thought it might have been because of something that happened with you," I replied.

She furrowed her eyebrows and sighed. "Well," she began hesitantly, as if she wasn't sure whether she should say it or not. "I'd been in prison for years after what happened in our homeland, and I told her about it."

_Ah. So that explains what she said under her breath last night. If I were to guess, her mom was put in prison because of information she knew. It would make sense. What she'd mumbled to herself was about this._

We stayed quiet for a while, which made me feel awkward.

"There's food for you in the fridge," I said and got up. She nodded her head and thanked me.

I closed the door after getting out and looked up at the crow's nest. I heard a ruckus going on up there.

….

_Some Zoro and Robin interactions c:! Hope you liked it 8D!_


	4. Chapter 4

We had already sailed off, and I had gone up to the crow's nest to read. As I was about to settle myself, the window behind me was suddenly shattered. I quickly crossed my arms but was too late. I felt something make its way through my stomach. When I looked down I saw half a sword coming out of me. Blood was quickly spreading through my shirt and dripping onto the wooden floor of the crow's nest. I slowly turned my head to look at who did it. I couldn't recognize the man but I could tell that he had to do with the government. He came in through the window after pulling his sword out of me. I fell to the ground, struggling to cross my arms and get rid of him.

"Ah, Nico Robin," he said, smiling. "I didn't think it would be that easy to hurt you."

Suddenly the door of the crow's nest opened. It was Zoro. He took one look at me and his eyes turned to the man behind it.

"And what do you think you're doing?" he said, unsheathing his katana and walking over to the man. The man seemed a bit nervous, but he didn't move.

"I've come for Nico Olvia," he said. "Looks like I got lucky and can take her daughter, too." Zoro, wasting no more time asking questions, attacked the man and easily got rid of him. He called out the window to Chopper.

"CHOPPER!" he yelled. "Robin's-"

He paused. I struggled to look over at him. An angry expression was on his face as he cussed under his breath.

"They're everywhere," he said, turning to me and picking me up carefully. I could tell by the way he was holding me that he was trying to be gentle, but the position I was in made my stomach send a sharp pain through my entire body. I flinched, letting out a sharp gasp. He repositioned the way he held me to make it more comfortable and started running down the stairs. He had to change my position again and hold me with only one arm so he could hold his katana with the other and fight off the men that came in his way. There was a ship beside ours that the men kept coming out of. I noticed that the rest of our crew was handling the men as well. Suddenly I thought of my mother and a chill ran down my entire body.

"Zoro," I whispered, too weak to talk loudly. There was too much noise, and he couldn't hear me. I patted his back a few times to get his attention. He kept fighting but he noticed.

"What is it?" he yelled as he slashed another man that came in his way.

"My mom," I said, in the midst of a bout of coughing. He quickly turned and made his way to the kitchen. There were countless men on board. Luffy, who wasn't far from us, noticed us.

"Oi!" he yelled, dodging a punch from one of the men. "What's up with Robin?!"

"No time to talk!" Zoro yelled back as we finally reached the kitchen. He burst into it, only to be welcomed by more men. He dodged one of their kicks, but when he moved, my head hit the side of the doorframe and it started bleeding. Zoro turned his head to me, realizing what happened.

"Crap," he said, turning his head away quickly and entering the kitchen. When he wiped out the men, there was no sign of my mom.

"My room," I managed to say. He got out of the kitchen and ran. But he wasn't running towards my room. He was heading down to the aquarium. I shook my head.

"Zoro, that's not the way," I said. Talking was extremely tiring. After that I tried leading him by pointing. When we got there, she wasn't there either. The whole place was a wreck. When he ran out to the deck, things had quieted down. Usopp and Nami were lying on the ground, exhausted. Chopper was nowhere in sight. Franky was cheering that they'd gotten rid of them, along with Brook who was laughing. Luffy ran over to us.

"Zoro, what's wrong with her? What happened?" he asked, freaking out. Zoro was distracted. He was looking out to sea, trying to spot the ship, but it wasn't there. It was out of sight.

"Dammit, how'd they leave so fast?!" he yelled. Luffy seemed confused.

"Why? What do you want with them?" he asked. Zoro looked over at me briefly, an irritated look on his face.

"We can't find Robin's mom," he said.

"What?!" he shouted, scratching his head. "That's no good."

"Where's Chopper? Robin's in trouble," Zoro said, looking around the deck. He spotted Chopper coming out of the infirmary with bandages, and called out to him.

"ROBIN!" he cried out, rushing over to us. Zoro headed to the infirmary at Chopper's request, and put me on the bed. As soon as he set me down, I felt drowsy. I couldn't see things clearly anymore. Everything was blurry. I was starting to feel nauseous as I slowly lost consciousness.

When I woke up, the thought of my mom being taken away immediately came to mind. I felt infuriated. There was no one in the infirmary, which I was glad about. I slowly turned my entire body so that my back would face the door. I didn't feel helpless. I knew my crew and I would go out to get her back, but at that moment, all I could think about was the unfairness of the whole situation. I had felt this anger before, but I trained myself to be able to control it. I tried so hard not to let it out, because I didn't think it would do any good. It would only worsen the situation and my condition. But my attempts failed. Slowly I felt the anger turn into tears. I began to cry. I cried and I cried, and I felt childish. I felt angry that I had let it out, which only made me cry more. Suddenly I heard the door open. I quickly shut my eyes, hoping they'd think I was asleep. Another childish act. I was thankful that I'd turned to my side. I could tell the person paused after coming in, as if they'd figured out what was going on. They closed the door.

"Robin," the voice said. It was Zoro.

I swallowed, realizing that he knew I wasn't asleep. I was also surprised he was the one to come visit me. Although, the rest probably came to check on me while I was unconscious. I hoped that my voice wouldn't come out quivery.

"Yes, Zoro," I said. It came out sounding pretty convincing.

"Dinner," he told me. He walked over to the bed and I heard him set the food on the table beside me. He wasn't the sort of man to get into people's business, so I thought he'd leave after that, which would've relieved me. But he did not.

"Face me," he said.

"And why should I?"

"So you could get rid of that damn stubbornness of yours," he said after a short pause. That surprised me. And it wasn't because of the way he said it, which was a bit harsh, because I'd already gotten used to the way he talked.

"I don't believe you're one to talk," I said, my voice starting to quiver. I mentally slapped myself when I began to cry again. There was no way to hide it now. It felt like I kept crying for a very long time. And all the while, Zoro had stayed. After finally feeling that I'd gotten rid of the angriness that had built up inside of me, I stopped crying. I let out a long sigh.

"Are you satisfied?" I asked, smiling to myself slightly as I closed my eyes. He didn't answer. I didn't hear him move until after a long time of waiting. He slowly walked to the door and exited.

Yes, I believe he was.

...

_Hellooo! So, I'm trying to keep Zoro and Robin in character, and knowing Zoro, he wouldn't exactly cuddle Robin to comfort her, so I thought that was a good way for him to help her. Anyway, tell me what you think about it ;D!_


	5. Chapter 5

**Zoro's point of view**

I closed the door to the infirmary. Aha, I was pretty satisfied.

"Zoro, what took you so long in there?!" Nami protested as she came up to me. "Is Robin okay?"

"I guess," I said, walking away. I was turning to go into the men's quarter when I tripped over something, but quickly regained my balance before falling. There was a yelp. I looked down, only to find Chopper lying flat across the wooden floor in front of the door.

"What the heck? Chopper? Why are you up?" I said, taking a step back. He was sweating and his tongue stuck out of this mouth.

"It's so hot!" he whined, rolling over on his stomach. I hadn't noticed it, but it was getting pretty warm.

"Splash some water on your face or something," I said, stepping over him.

"Zoro," he called out. I looked back at him. "Will you…carry me to the washroom?"

I rolled my eyes, irritated. "Oi, are you that lazy?!"

"Pleeeeasse!" Chopper begged. I let out an exaggerated sigh, then picked him up and headed to the kitchen. I walked in and placed Chopper in the sink.

"There," I said. Chopper, as if not realizing I hadn't gone to the washroom, frowned.

"This isn't the washroom," he said.

"Deal with it."

He sighed and opened the faucet, splashing his fur with cold water. Once he finished, he shook around and water got all over me.

"Oi! Be more careful," I said, wiping my face. Apologizing and giving me a smile, he hopped out of the sink.

"Thank you, Zoro!"

I nodded and walked after him. "Were you able to locate the ship?"

"Well, no," Chopper said. "But Nami said that she's got an idea of what island they're heading to."

Well, that was good.

I woke up alone next day in the men's quarter. Yawning and getting out of my hammock, I made my way out of the room, only to be welcomed with a punch on the head by Nami.

"WHAT THE HECK?!" I yelled, putting my hands on the bump that had formed.

"What's your problem?!" she snapped. "We've been trying to wake you up for hours! Do you know what we've been going through?"

I looked around the deck. Everything seemed fine. "No."

"The grand line's crazy climate decided to play tricks on us. First the weather was hot, so I had decided to change into cool clothes. Next thing we knew, it started snowing. SNOWING! AND I WAS WEARING NOTHING BUT A TANK TOP AND SHORTS! Then came a thunder storm. All of us were running around trying to control the Sunny, since the storm was freaking wild. And all the while, what were you doing, Zoro?!"

She threw another punch at me. "SLEEPING!"

"It's not my fault none of you knows how to wake someone up!" I yelled back, quickly getting away from her. The weather was freezing, and the only one of us who was enjoying it was Chopper. After we piled up in the kitchen to have a late breakfast, Nami announced that we were two hours away from the next island, which is the place she predicted that they'd taken Robin's mom, Olvia to.

"I'll be taking Robin-chwan her breakfast now!" the love cook announced, wiggling as he walked to the door. Nami stopped him.

"Sanji-kun, I'd like to talk to her," she explained. "Mind if I do it this time?"

He looked disappointed but gave her the plate.

"Oh, and listen guys," she turned to face us before leaving. "Even though Robin trusts we'll be able to on our own, I have a feeling she's gonna want to fight for her mom along with us. And we all know that every single one of us is stubborn and most of the time we have it our way."

I scoffed at that. _Yeah right, with her bossing us around all the time_. She noticed and flashed a glare at me.

"But it's dangerous for her to be fighting, it's way too soon. So we have to be by her side at all times when we're on the island. And if something happens and we have to run, one of you better help her. She can't run yet."

"As for Chopper and Brook, you guys stay on the ship."

"But Namiii, I wanna go out with you guys!" Chopper whined. Nami explained to him that we needed him strong and not beat up when we came back, since he was the doctor.

"Franky and Usopp, we need more food. I want you to go fishing on the Mini Merry," she said, opening the door to exit the kitchen. "Oh and lastly, from the climate, I can tell that the island we're heading to is gonna be a winter one. So dress well."

With that, she left to serve Robin her breakfast. We slowly began going about our own duties. I was about to start my training when I noticed a ship far off in the distance. There was fog, so I couldn't identify whose ship it was.

"Oi," I turned my head to Nami, who had come out of the infirmary. "I can see a ship."

She walked over to me and looked out. "I can't see well."

"Usopp!" she called out. "Come here!"

Usopp was busy playing with his captain. Soon after Nami's unanswered call, he received a kick from her, and was forced to walk over to the railing and look out.

"Use those binoculars of yours to identify the ship," she ordered. Usopp did as he was told, and as soon as he adjusted his binoculars to be able to see better, he jumped.

"It's the ship that we fought off a day ago!" he exclaimed. "But I don't think it's moving."

Nami concluded that they were docked, and we'd gotten to the island. But the fog was pretty bad. When we finally came to a stop, we took a look at the island. It was covered in snow and packed with trees. We hurriedly got dressed better and were getting ready to get off the ship. Chopper was slumping over the railing, pouting, while Brook stood beside him.

Robin, assisted by Nami, was coming out of the infirmary. Chopper tried to convince her to stay on the ship, since it was very cold and dangerous on the island, but that did not change her mind. Although she looked tired, her face showed determination. We jumped off the ship and into the deep snow, which started making its way into my shoes.

"We're counting on you guys!" Brook and Chopper said, waving. We walked over to the enemy's ship and searched it, but it was completely empty. Everyone that had been on it was now somewhere on this island. The fog, apparently, only surrounded the island. So we were able to see well after passing it.

"It's sooo cold!" Luffy whined, shivering and rubbing his arms as we entered a forest. Nami was making sure Robin didn't lose her balance and was walking by her, their arms hooked. But apparently it wasn't enough, and Robin slipped in the snow and fell onto her back. Nami freaked out, and tried to pull her up. Sanji came to her rescue and helped her onto her feet.

"Okay Sanji, you hold her other arm," Nami said. Luffy was ahead of us and had no idea what was going on. I looked over at Robin, who seemed irritated by being held from both her arms.

"I think I'll be alright if no one holds me at all," Robin said, trying to make them let go of her. Nami shook her head.

"Nope," she said.

"Robin-chan, you just fell from being tired, which means you need support," Love Cook said. Robin cocked one of her eyebrows, as if the reason wasn't because she was tired. She took a deep breath, obviously trying to be as patient as she could.

As we walked deeper into the forest, the sound of shouting men increased. We got closer and noticed that they were enemies.

"Dammit! They came," one of them whispered, backing off. I scanned the group of men that were in front of us. They seemed nervous and frustrated. One of the men turned to his companion.

"You _had_ to make us stop with you?!" he snapped angrily.

"Where's Olvia?" Nami began, flashing glares at all the men. Most of them denied knowing, or gave useless threats. Except one, that is. He had wildly curly hair and his face showed anger. He took out his sword and began walking over to us.

"Go ahead, I'll distract them," he said to his companions. It didn't seem they gave a second thought to try to help him, since they just ran off as soon as he said that. Luffy was about to go after them when the man stood in front of him.

"Wait," he whispered. Luffy looked confused. The man looked over his shoulder, as if making sure the men were gone. When they had gone out of his sight, he let out a long sigh.

"My name is Ken," he began, putting his sword away. "And I want to help you."

All of us cocked our heads at him. "Huh?!"

His angry expression returned as he scratched his head in frustration.

"I started working for the government not long ago, with the belief that they did good things. But about two months ago, they told me their plan of searching for Nico Olvia. And once I knew why they wanted to capture her, I immediately refused to go along with the plan. But after thinking it through a little more, I found that maybe going with them and trying to help her was a better idea than not going at all. I've desperately been trying to get time with her alone and try to assist her, but my attempts have been failing."

We all gazed at the man for a while. Although it was a bit shocking, something about him seemed trustworthy. And if I thought that, there was no way Luffy wouldn't believe him.

"Oh I see," Luffy said. "Okay! Show us to where she is."

The man immediately started leading us deeper into the forest. Nami, especially, seemed very suspicious. I didn't fully trust him either, but he seemed to be telling the truth. Robin, somehow, managed to escape Sanji and Nami's grips. Although she was hunched over because of her wound, she was able to walk okay.

It seemed to take a very long time for us to finally reach a very big cave. Everyone up until then was trying to hide the fact that they were so cold, minus Luffy. But once we stopped walking, the whole group immediately started shivering.

"I-Is this th-the place?" Nami said, her words breaking due to the chattering of her teeth.

"Yeah," the man said. He didn't seem too bothered by the cold. He pointed into the cave. "If you keep going straight, no going right or left, you'll get to where you need to be."

"Eh?" I said, glancing into the cave, then looking over at the man warily. "Is there a reason why you're not coming along?"

"Indeed. I need to go back to my companions, who were heading back to our ship," he said, walking away. "I'm very sorry. Good luck."

We watched him disappear into the woods, then we turned our gaze back to the cave. Luffy had already gone into it, yelling out "ROBIN'S MOM! WE'RE HEEEERE!"

Nami quickly caught up to him, clapping her hand over his mouth. "You're an idiot! Be quiet!"

I groaned, following them into the cave. Robin, who had also entered, knelt for a moment against the wall, breathing heavily and putting her left hand over her stomach. Sanji quickly ran over to her, offering to pick her up. And as I expected, she declined.

"But thank you," she said, taking a last deep breath and starting to walk after us.

"I WANT FOOD!" we heard Luffy shout ahead of us.

"No time for that, you moron!" Sanji yelled after him. Robin, who would have usually given her amusing smile, wasn't paying attention to them at all. She was lost in thought as she struggled to walk straight.

"Zoro," she said, a slight smile appearing on her face. And it wasn't an amused one. _That's rare._ "I deeply appreciate what you did for me."

…..

_Ken, a curly haired man, of my creation. I really hope you liked this chapter! And I'd like to thank the people who reviewed my story, I appreciate it so much! And of course thank you to the people who favorited/followed it as well, AAAAND a thank you to all the readers 8D!_

_Oh and to __**Roronoa Robin**__ I really do like Zoro and Robin together, so thank you for giving me even more encouragement to write it! No need to thank me at all, on the contrary, thank you ;D!_


	6. Chapter 6

**Robin's point of view**

"I deeply appreciate what you did for me," I told him. He looked away from me and kept walking. Saying you're welcome wasn't something he ever did, so I was content with seeing the slightest hint of a smile. It was enough for me.

A desperate scream was heard, coming from inside the cave. I quickened my pace, as did everyone else. As we got closer, we heard men shouting and giving threats.

"Oh be quiet, you useless woman," a man said. We started running.

"Useless?" a familiar female voice replied. "You're calling me useless now?"

We heard a cry of pain, and I assumed the man had struck her. Rage began building up inside of me again as we quickly made our way through the cave. The smell in that place was unpleasant, and it was extremely dark and stuffy. We finally got to them. There were two men holding onto my mother from her arms. Her face was covered in blood and her eyes showed disgust as she looked back and forth between the men that held her.

"Cien, fluer!" I said, crossing my arms and sprouting arms from the men's bodies. "Clutch!"

My mom hadn't noticed us, and she was still unaware of my ability at the time. She stared at the men who had fallen down and settled in disturbing positions, unconscious. It was too dark for her to be able to recognize us all, but she did know I was there.

"Robin?" she whispered, suddenly coughing hysterically and falling down. Luffy had already started running ahead of us, while Sanji helped my mom up. Nami stood beside me, heaving in and out heavily. Sanji picked her up and headed after Luffy. Nami followed shortly after him, and I was about to join them when I noticed that Zoro wasn't there. I looked behind me, but there was no sign of him. As much as I wished to go with my mom, it didn't feel right to leave him lost in the cave. And although Ken had clearly told us to walk straight, I wasn't surprised that Zoro lost his way. We'd gotten used to his terrible sense of direction.

I called out to Nami to tell her, but she'd gone too far. I carefully straightened my back, causing my wound to feel like it was being torn open again. I gritted my teeth and tried to ignore the pain as I quickly walked back the direction we'd come from.

"Zoro?" I called out, crossing my arms. I sprouted an ear from one of the walls of the cave ahead of me, to see if I could catch him saying something or hear his steps. I knew sprouting my eyes would be useless, since the cave was pitch black. I stopped walking when I heard the rattling of his katana as he walked. I uncrossed my arms and walked faster until I found him. He turned to me, clutching his katana.

"Oh, there you are," he said, letting go of his swords. "Where the heck did you guys disappear to?"

"We kept going straight," I told him, resting my hand on the wall.

"Right," he said, rolling his eyes and walking ahead of me. "This damn place is a maze."

I smiled at his frustration and walked after him.

"We found my mother," I said, taking the smile off my face. He looked back briefly and nodded.

"Who's got her?"

"Sanji."

"Tch, bad idea."

"He's very careful with ladies, I'm sure she'll be fine," I told him. When we reached the end of the cave and were out in the open again, I noticed that we were near the shore. There was a ship, and many men were surrounding it. As we got closer, we saw Luffy and Sanji fighting them while my mom lay against a tree, Nami standing over her with her climatact in hand. When she noticed us she called us over to explain the situation.

"They're trying to get Olvia onto that ship," she said, pointing, "So they could take her to a marine base. There are so many of them!"

I glanced at my mom, and judging from her appearance, she was unconscious. Zoro immediately joined Luffy and Sanji. Crossing my arms, I broke the spines of many of the men who tried to come near my mom, while Nami formed clouds and hit a group of men approaching with lightning. The place was a complete chaos.

"There's a storm coming," Nami suddenly said, looking up. "A strong one."

The snow was no longer white, and the sky seemed to darken by approaching clouds, as Nami had predicted. From behind me, I heard the scolding of men. I turned around and found a group of men surrounding Ken, not far from where I stood.

"Ken, did you lead them here?! Did you?!" I heard one of the men shout.

I was expecting Ken to deny it, but he didn't.

"Yes, I did. What we're doing is wrong, and you men know that," he replied.

Marines had also showed up, and a group of them were coming towards us so I turned my attention to them, not hearing the rest of the conversation. Not long after that, I heard a loud groan from behind me. I finished up another two marines who had snuck up on us and turned to see where the groan had come from. The group of men who had been surrounding Ken were now gone, and Ken lay in the snow alone, motionless. I ran over to him and bent down, turning him so he could lie on his back. He had three deep cuts in his chest. I put my hand over his heart, but there was no sign of life. He had died.

I was shaking, and whether it was due to the cold or from shock, I didn't know. I sprouted hands from under him and moved his body away from all the chaos, then returned to the battlefield. Nami was overwhelmed by the number of marines who had her surrounded, and quickly called to me when one of them snatched my mom and stormed off towards their ship. I started running after him, but the number of men that covered the place was enormous, and I lost sight of him. I ran faster, crossing my arms to be ready to attack him once I saw him.

Once I caught sight of him again, I sprouted arms from his body, but before I was able to complete my attack, I felt a strong sharp pain due to my wound and I fell over. It had opened up and was bleeding. I looked around frantically to try to find any of my crewmates, but I couldn't see any of them. I tried getting up, but the pain wouldn't allow me. I dragged myself towards the ship as marines passed me, and some tried to attack me. I finally caught sight of Luffy.

"Luffy!" I called out as loud as I could. He turned around and his eyes widened when he saw me. He swiped another group of marines that had come after him and he quickly ran over to me.

"Robin?! Are you okay? Where's your mom?" he asked.

"They took her to the ship," I answered as I felt myself grow colder. I looked down at my stomach, which hadn't stopped bleeding.

"Robin?" Luffy said, leaning closer to look at my face. "Oi, Robin!"

I felt really tired. Closing my eyes and blocking all the sounds that surrounded me, I lost consciousness.

I woke up, feeling cold and stiff. I looked at my surroundings and realized that I was in the cave, near the entrance. Chopper was sitting in front of me, giving me a displeased expression.

I coughed a few times before speaking. "Thank you Chopper, for taking care of me."

I saw a slight blush form on his cheeks as he struggled to keep the stern look on his face.

"You worked too hard!" he scolded. I gave him a smile as I sat up.

"It was necessary," I replied, breathing in and out deeply. "Why did you come?"

"Brook and I heard the chaos from across the island," he explained. "It's not a very big island, which helped. Franky stayed behind with the Sunny while Brook and Usopp and I rushed to where the commotion was. And as we were running through the cave, we bumped into Zoro, who was apparently heading back to the ship with you since you weren't in good shape."

"Oh, I see," I said. I felt this heavy feeling in my head and wondered if Chopper had drugged me. It wouldn't have been a surprise. He stood up and put his little paw on my shoulder.

"Please rest," he said. "Luffy and the others will definitely save her."

I flashed him an appreciative smile, and looked out the cave. I remembered Ken.

"Chopper," I said, looking towards him. "There's a man who helped us find my mother. But he died, and I would like us to give him a proper burial."

Chopper blinked a few times, obvious sadness showing on his face. "Where is he?"

After telling him, he stormed out of the cave, promising to bring him back. He was such a lovable creature, always helping others and looking after them. I put my head back and rested it against the wall. My head felt heavy again.

…..

_HELLO 8D! I know my chapters aren't very long, but I hope you enjoy them nonetheless! Amg I ship them together so much [Zoro and Robin] q-q But I have no experience in writing romance, so I hope you're enjoying what I'm doing so far. I'm trying to put something between them that's not too extreme, because I want to keep them in character. And I also didn't want to put romance as a genre because I don't know if I can call what'll be between them romance. It's more like…special friendship? LIKE THAT. Y'KNOW. LOL. And we all know it can be tricky to write the straw hats [minus Sanji] in a romantic relationship without making them OOC. Anyway, THANK YOU FOR READING :3!_


	7. Chapter 7

**Zoro's point of view**

I slashed another marine as I headed towards the ship, where Luffy had gone. The marines were endless; it's as if they kept reproducing. _Geez._ Usopp and Brook had come, so that helped with holding them off. I hopped onto the ship and cleared my way by cutting anyone that tried attacking me. I looked around the ship and decided to look into every door I came across. The first door was a men's quarter, the second was an office, and the third was a kitchen. I stood in the doorway, staring at a bottle of sake that stood on the table in the middle of the room. I squinted at it, and then shook my head.

"No time for this," I whispered, closing the door. I started running but stopped. Grunting loudly, I quickly made my way back to the kitchen, snatched the bottle, and ran out to look through more doors.

"Wait a minute," I said to myself as I looked into one of the rooms. "The men's quarter? Didn't I already pass this?"

I cursed, frustrated as I hurriedly went through the same doors all over again. I finally got to a door that led down a flight of stairs. The light grew dimmer as I ran down, but once I got to the end of it, there were torches that lit the way. I sensed something getting closer from far ahead of me and I ducked. A door had been knocked out of its hinges and was thrown towards me. I took out my katana and walked faster, towards the sound. I finally got the entrance where the door was unhinged and found Luffy fighting more marines.

"Zoro!" he yelled, looking briefly at me. "Go ahead; Robin's mom is probably hidden in the back!"

I nodded and slashed the men that were in the way as I ran further. I finally got to a locked door, but I easily sliced it open and stepped in. There sat Robin's mom, with a man hovering over her. I started walking in when suddenly she lifted her head, her hands still cuffed, and she summoned enough energy to kick the man in his face.

The man fell back and she took the chance to run to the door. She noticed me and smiled. The man was starting to get up again and I told her to stay back. When I knocked him out, we started making our way through the hallway again.

"You're tougher than I assumed you'd be," I commented as I slashed yet more men that had come our way. She let out a laugh that sounded much like Robin's.

"Well, I wasn't the strongest when I used to go out for research earlier in my life, but I wasn't the weakest either."

I hadn't noticed it very much before, but her voice sounded eerily like her daughter's, which made me flinch. She noticed and smiled at me.

"What's the matter?" she said, chuckling. _UGH, WHAT THE HELL? She was freaking me out._ I gave her a frustrated glance and faced front again. Once we walked further, we came across Luffy, who had finished off the marines. His face lit up immediately once he saw Robin's mom. He called out her name and gave her a sudden hug. I wasn't surprised by it as much as she was, but she seemed to be okay with it after getting over the sudden impact.

"Let's go!" he yelled, letting go of her and stomping in front of us. Once we reached the stairs and climbed up, the place had quieted down a little. Sanji was finishing off a group of marines with Usopp to back him up, and Brook came over to us.

"I'm glad everyone's okay!" he exclaimed, laughing his usual cheerful laugh. Robin's mom seemed to be doing better than before. I guessed maybe kicking that man in his face gave her energy. We jumped off the ship and met with Nami, Usopp, and Sanji.

"Thank God you're okay!" Nami cried, letting out a sigh of relief.

"Robin's dear mother! I hope you're doing alright," Sanji tried comforting her.

I started walking ahead of them, but Usopp stopped me.

"You'll get lost," he said bluntly. I gave him an annoyed glance and slowed my pace. We finally got back to the cave, where we thought Robin and Chopper would be. They weren't anywhere in the cave, so we got out again and searched. When we finally heard Chopper's voice coming from inside the woods, we followed it. Once we got to them, we noticed a white cloth covered body.

"Who's that?" Luffy asked, uncomfortably staring at it.

Robin looked up at us, her face brightening once she saw her mom safe with us. She was sitting down against a tree. "It's Ken."

Luffy and Nami gasped loudly, shaking their heads and asking what had happened. Robin explained it clearly and everyone quieted down. Chopper had been digging a big hole, so Sanji and I started helping him finish it up. After properly burying him, we took off in the direction of the cave again. Robin and her mother walked a bit behind us, talking.

I suddenly stopped walking, and everyone noticed.

"What's wrong, Zoro?" Chopper asked. I heard someone behind us. We had walked quite a distance, but I could still see the entrance. There were marines, but they weren't following us. They just stood there holding a small black box with a red button in the middle of it. I was immediately alerted.

"I think they might've planted some bombs in the cave," I told them, taking out my swords.

"The walls could crush us alive," Robin pointed out.

"Oi, Robin! Don't say things like that!" Usopp pleaded.

"So long, straw hats," we heard one of the marines say as he clicked the button.

"CRAP! RUN!" I yelled, turning and dashing after my crew.

"They just can't give it a rest, can they?!" Sanji said, cussing.

"Yohohoho!" Brook laughed along with Luffy as they ran.

The place was falling apart on top of our heads. We boosted our speed but I noticed that Robin wasn't running as fast as we were, and her mother was trying to help her. I slowed down until I reached them and I picked Robin up.

"Oh-" she said, startled. I put her on my back and ran like an idiot to get away from a rock that was inches away from falling on us.

"You better not drop her, shithead!" Sanji warned.

"Damn cook," I whispered, running ahead of him.

"OI, YOU THINK YOU'RE FASTER THAN ME?" he raged as he ran after me.

"That's right!" I yelled back. We passed Robin's mom. We passed Chopper and Usopp. We passed Luffy and Brook. Then we finally passed Nami, who had taken the lead.

"WHAT ARE YOU TWO IDIOTS DOING?!" she snapped. She hit Sanji but let me go. I guessed that it was because I was holding Robin. I chuckled at the cook who was now swooning over Nami.

"OW!" we heard a cry coming from Usopp. We looked back at him. A rock had fallen straight onto his nose. The place was falling apart completely as we boosted our speed for the last time and made it out. We stopped to catch our breaths, thinking that the bombs were planted only in the cave. But apparently we were wrong. Random spots on the ground were suddenly exploding. Luffy laughed hysterically as he ran ahead of us towards the ship. There was no end to it. Everywhere we went a bomb exploded hardly a step away from us. We finally got to the ship and jumped on it. I put Robin down and took out the bottle of sake I had saved from the marine ship.

"Where'd you get that?" Nami inquired.

"The marine ship," I replied, opening it and drinking. It tasted awful. I spit it out and put the bottle down. "The heck is this stuff?!"

"That's what you get for being sidetracked," Usopp said, shaking his head. "Unlike me. I focused on our goal throughout the entire day!"

I scoffed at him and looked out the ship. The place had quieted down and smoke covered the island. Franky came out of the lower deck and greeted us. Chopper started attending to the injured, such as Robin and her mom, and Usopp for his nose.

"Sanji! Food!" Luffy demanded. Nami sighed, frustrated.

"I don't know when the log pose sets on this island," she said worriedly. "And from what we saw on this island, there was no town or village."

"I have a book that contains information about the uninhabited islands on the grand line," Robin said. "I believe it could be of use."

Nami immediately brightened up as she dashed to the library.

"Zoro, it's your turn for a checkup," Chopper appeared in front of me.

"I'm fine," I told him.

"I'm gonna check you anyway," he said. It appeared that I had a few cuts here and there, but they weren't serious at all. I'd hardly noticed them. After patching me up, he went over to check on Luffy. Nami walked out of the library, holding the book and reading. She showed Robin a page.

"Yeah, that's the one," Robin confirmed.

"Okay, guys!" Nami began, closing the book. "The log pose sets in two more days. I suggest we move the Sunny into the fog for cover."

….

_Hiii guys C:! I start giggling sometimes when I write ZoRobin scenes, or even the scene with her mom and him 8). Anyway, thank you for the review/follows/favorites, I really appreciate it 8D! I hope you're enjoying the story so far. Let me know your thoughts about it c:!_

_So there are a few people who reviewed that I can't reply to since they're guests, or perhaps for other reasons, but here are my replies to you guys:  
__**Guest**__: I'm glad you think so! And I hope you're enjoying it so far c:! Thank you 8D!_

_**seo2**__: Yay C;! Hopefully you're enjoying it :D! Thank you!_


	8. Chapter 8

**Robin's point of view**

Mom's eyes gleamed as we stood in front of the bookshelves.

"You've got a wonderful collection!" she exclaimed, running her hands across the book spines. She scanned them, pulling out each one that caught her attention. She ended up with more than ten books from looking through only one of the shelves, and was starting with the next. I chuckled at that. Being away from the world for eighteen years, she probably had lots to catch up on and learn. She took the books and sat down.

"Care to join me?" she asked.

"I'd love to. But I need my coffee," I replied, walking to the door. "Would you like some?"

"Yes, that sounds soothing."

I headed to the kitchen and started making my coffee, doubling the amount I usually made. I felt a rush of pleasure as I poured the coffee into the mugs.

"Okay, alright, I'll take the medicine! Geez," I heard Zoro say as he entered the kitchen. He walked to the fridge and got a cup of water.

"Thank you for picking me up, that was a big help," I told him. He was about to say something when Chopper called out to him from the deck.

"ALRIGHT, DAMMIT! I'M COMING!" Zoro yelled, obviously irritated that he had to take medicine for the cuts he had, which _he_ considered to be small. He mumbled a few things under his breath irritably as he exited the kitchen.

I made my way back to the library and sat by my mom with a book I picked out from the shelves. We sipped our coffee and read for what seemed like hours. Every now and then I'd glance over at my mom. Almost every time she had a different expression on her face, depending on what was happening in the book.

"Robin," she said suddenly, placing her book on the table beside her. "Would you tell me about the poneglyphs that you've seen so far?"

I blinked a few times before setting my book down as well. I told her about all the things I'd discovered so far from the trips I'd made and cultures I'd studied. Nami came in briefly to tell us dinner was ready, but we were so engrossed in the subject that she left us without another word. After finishing I let out a deep breath. I hadn't spoken about the things I've encountered that have to do with history like that before, and it felt like I was letting out a big part of me.

"Oh wow," Mom exclaimed, letting out a long sigh of relief. "You're amazing, Robin. That information is so important. I'm so glad you talked to me about it."

"Yes, I agree, it really is," I said, finishing the last bit of coffee left.

"Roronoa," she began, sitting back.

I looked up at her and waited. "What about him?"

"He's very interesting," she explained, looking at me straight in the eye. "Don't you agree?"

I nodded. "Indeed, he is."

She flashed me a smile I couldn't quite understand. "Tell me what you think about him."

"I find him very protective and honorable," I answered, crossing my legs. She looked at me as though she was expecting more and then turned her head away.

"Go on," Mom said as she poured part of her coffee into my mug.

I cocked an eyebrow as I continued. "His sense of direction can be troublesome, but I find it endearing in a way."

She chuckled, getting up. "I'm getting hungry; I think I'll go get something to eat. Thank you for sharing things with me."

Picking up her mug, she headed to the door and opened it. Before leaving she looked back at me, obviously thinking about something. A smirk suddenly appeared on her face before she closed the door after her. I wondered why she'd only asked what I thought of Zoro and no one else. I had a slight idea of a reason, but I didn't think very much of it. It was something I kept to myself.

Shortly after my mom left, Nami came in. "Did you have a nice time?"

I nodded with a smile as I drank the coffee she poured for me, which was no longer hot. In a while, mom came back in with her dinner. She sat down in front of Nami and me, as if ready to give a long talk.

"Well," she began. "As you know, I can't stay on your ship for long. You'll be going on more adventures and facing dangers, and I hope you stay safe. But there's somewhere I need to go, and I must be going soon."

My stomach turned over and over again, and I remembered that I had the same feeling when she told me to leave when I was a child. Nami blinked a few times before smiling.

"You're welcome to stay as long as you want though, Olvia," she said. "And if you really have to leave, we'll be more than ready to take you wherever you need to go."

"The island I want to stay on is a small one. I have a very old friend there that I contacted after leaving the prison. She was a fellow researcher named Cora." She took a bite of her food. "She kindly invited me to stay on her island, which isn't a known one. And even though it would've been nice to stay with everyone a while longer, the place isn't too far from the island we're currently on."

I shifted in my seat while Nami asked my mom about the location. Mom got up and walked to the wardrobe, where she had placed her jacket. After fiddling with it, she got out an eternal pose.

"Cora sent me this after I contacted her. It's very old, as you can see," she said, showing it to us. Little pieces of wood were sticking out, and if you weren't careful holding it, you'd get splinters. "But it works."

Nami took it and examined it, then got up. "Okay then. We'll head there as soon as the log pose is set."

Nami and my mom fell asleep quite fast. I had to stay up since it was my turn to watch that night, so I made another cup of coffee and I settled myself on the deck. Not long after that, I heard the door leading to the crow's nest open and Zoro walked out. He let out a long yawn and scratched his head as he walked towards the men's quarter. I guessed he had fallen asleep after training.

He turned his head briefly towards me, his eyes squinting, obviously showing that he had just woken up. He yawned again and shook his head.

"Oh, you," he mumbled.

"Yes, me," I replied, chuckling.

"I thought I was on watch today."

"Oh, I forgot about that. Nami said you had to keep watch for a whole week as a punishment for something, am I right?" I had just remembered. Nami was furious that had fallen asleep twice in a row on two watches, so she gave him another week for him to "learn".

"Don't worry about it, I'm not planning on sleeping anyway, so I'll keep watch today," I told him.

"Psh, I don't want that woman to rage at me again," he said, closing his eyes as he walked over to where I was. I smiled at him then turned my gaze to the ocean. It was a very warm and pleasant night.

"You and your mother's voices sound a lot alike," he pointed out as he sat down against the railing.

"I hadn't noticed. Interesting observation," I said.

"It's not interesting, it's freaky."

I laughed. I wasn't surprised by the way he looked at it. Although it was because we were related, I supposed it might have been a bit strange for other people.

"Well, it won't be along until I'll be the only one with a voice like this."

He opened his eyes to look at me and waited.

"She's leaving soon," I finally said as the smile that was plastered on my face faded. "I don't want her to leave quite so fast."

He frowned. His expression also showed that he was surprised. I wasn't sure whether it was because of the news, or because I had expressed a desire. It was more likely the second option. I knew that I wasn't someone to say what I wanted so openly, but for some reason I didn't feel the need to be secretive with him. He himself encouraged me not to be so.

"Then be sure to spend as much time with your mom as you can until then," he said. My smile returned after that and we didn't say anymore for the rest of the night. Nami was the first one to get up, and as soon as she saw me awake and with a coffee cup, she stormed at Zoro.

"WHY'S ROBIN AWAKE, TOO?" she yelled into his ear. He had dosed off and his eyes shot open at her voice.

"I didn't make her stay up with me, you know," he replied with a groan. She was about to throw a punch at him when I sprouted an arm from the railing and put it on her shoulder.

"It's true, he didn't," I reassured her. She finally put her hand down after giving him a long glare. The atmosphere was subdued because of the fog that surrounded us. Nami looked a bit worried.

"Is something wrong?" I asked her.

"The weather seems nice and warm but there's something about the movements of the clouds and the slight breeze that tells me it won't last long," she answered with a sigh. "It would be better for us to spend the time inside today."

…..

_HELLO ;D! So I watched Guardians Of The Galaxy yesterday with my friend and sister, and Groot is just so freaking adorable q-q! Annyyway…thank you for the review and follow c:! They make me very happy! I hope you liked this chapter :3!_

_**Guest**__: I'm so happy you like it q-q! Thank you very much! And don't worry, I'm not planning on abandoning it c:! I'm sorry, but I don't think I'll be putting any LuNa in this story, I wasn't really planning on doing so. And yup, here's the update! No need to thank me at all, I enjoy writing, and I enjoy writing this fanfic! And it's totally fine, thank you so much for your kind words and taking the time to review 8D! _


	9. Chapter 9

**Zoro's point of view**

We held a group meeting on the deck at Nami's request. She showed us an eternal pose and explained what the plan was, and it was confirmed by Luffy, who was glad to help Robin's mom. When the log pose finally set after another day of waiting, we sailed off. For the next few days, Robin was doing as much as she could with her mom. She gave her a tour of the entire ship, and also talked a lot about us to her. I couldn't help but try to hear what she had to say about me, but in the end she didn't even mention me. I shrugged it off and went on napping. I wasn't the kind of person who cared much what other people thought.

"Oh no," Nami whispered. I opened my eyes and looked over at her. She was looking back and forth between the ocean and the sky. She quickly called everyone to get on the deck.

"Guys, a very big storm is approaching. Whirlpools and small cyclones are starting to appear and it's gonna be hard to get out of it," she said, then started instructing us in what to do. Robin and her mom were still down in the aquarium, but Nami didn't bother calling them. We quickly pulled the sails and tied down everything on the deck with rope. Franky was at the steering wheel beside Nami, who was directing him. Black clouds were starting to cover the sky and it began to rain. I looked over the railing and sure enough, I could see whirlpools covering the ocean. A few cyclones appeared not too far from where we were. Everyone was trying not to fall off by holding onto things.

A big wave suddenly hit the side of the Sunny and most of us tumbled over, either hitting the railing or falling on top of each other. I heard a scream, followed by a splash. I quickly looked over the side of the ship and saw a pink hat. Chopper had fallen off. Luffy freaked out and was about to jump into the water after him when Usopp stopped him. I took off my shirt and dove into the ocean. After surfacing, I scanned the water around me. The rain was falling hard and the Sunny swayed back and forth. When I finally caught sight of him, I tried swimming over to where he was. Then suddenly a wave came my way and pushed me with it, causing me to hit the side of our ship. I felt a sharp pain in my head and lifted my hand to touch it. There was lots of blood. Ignoring it, I hurriedly swam towards Chopper, who was slowly floating away. I was hearing the calls of everyone on deck, but suddenly their voices faded out. I guessed they might have toppled over again.

Only then did I notice that Chopper was being pulled into a whirlpool. I started kicking wildly and swimming faster. I grabbed his leg and tried swimming back but we were being pulled in. We were slowly heading further and further away from the Sunny. I tried keeping my eyes on the ship in order not to lose it. I felt my vision starting to blur and quickly shook my head as I kept kicking and trying to get away from the whirlpool. I caught sight of Robin, who was looking over the railing. She crossed her arms and sprouted them from the side of the ship, one after the other until they got to us. I swam a little further until I got to her hand and took hold of it. My other hand was holding onto Chopper. We were slowly pulled in, and I noticed that Luffy had grabbed Robin and was pulling, and everyone else had soon joined, too.

We finally reached the ship and were pulled aboard. Usopp was working on trying to get the water out of Chopper's lungs while I lay back, catching my breath. Nami ordered Franky to do a _coupe de burst_ so we could finally get away from that crazy weather. I held onto the railing and made sure Chopper was held well by Usopp. The ship flew out of the water and away from the storm. When we finally landed, the weather had cleared up and there were no more black clouds covering the sky. I coughed a few times, trying to get rid of any unwanted water left in me. Robin walked over to me and knelt down, then without warning, she put her hand on my head and gently pushed it down.

"Oi!" I yelled.

"You're bleeding," she said. I was quite aware of that. She called over to Chopper, who had finally regained consciousness. He freaked out once he saw how much I was bleeding and he brought an entire bag of white bandages along with him. He cleansed the wound and started wrapping my head with a long strip of white cloth. It went over almost my entire face.

"Oi, Chopper! I can't breathe!" I objected before he covered my mouth.

"Ch-Chopper!" I tried pushing him away from me, but he turned to his human form and kept wrapping it around my head. I heard a laugh coming from Luffy and a chuckle from Robin. I got up and started running, grabbing the cloth and starting to pull it off.

"HEY! COME BACK, I'M NOT DONE YET!" Chopper yelled behind me. I ran up the crow's nest, but he soon caught up with me.

"Chopper! Don't wrap it around my entire head, I can't breathe, dammit!" I told him after getting rid of all the cloth. He heaved a long sigh and nodded, then _properly_ wrapped it around the top of my head.

"Sorry, I just freaked out," he apologized, taking the extra cloth and walking out.

"Thanks, Chopper," I said. He started wiggling, blushing and telling me he wasn't happy. I followed him down the stairs. Sanji announced that it was dinner time and we rushed to the kitchen before Luffy ate our share of food.

"You're a very skilled navigator, Nami," Robin's mom pointed out as she helped clear off the table. Nami laughed slightly, saying it was nothing. I got up and walked to Sanji, who was washing the dishes.

"Listen up now, cook," I told him. "Where the hell did you put all my sake?"

"Eh?" he said, looking over at me. "Oh sure, it's in the-I'LL NEVER TELL YOU! Tch, you drank up all the bottles last time, and you're getting none this time. Dumb moss head."

I growled at him and stocked out of the kitchen. When I was about to walk up to the crow's nest, I sensed eyes on me. I turned and saw Nami and Robin's mom looking over at me with weird smiles on their faces. I cringed.

"What…the heck?" I whispered to myself as I opened the door to go up the stairs. Suddenly I felt even more eyes on me. I slammed the door shut and turned my head. This time it wasn't only Nami and Robin's mom, it was Franky as well. Not only were they looking at me strangely with freaky smiles, they were giggling as well.

"What's the big idea?" I told them.

"Oh…nothing," Nami said, covering her mouth with her hand. I rolled my eyes at them in frustration. Not long after that, Robin came from the aquarium with her book, and then noticed the weird atmosphere.

"Is everything alright?" she asked as she glanced between me and _the creep group._ Surprisingly, they were giving her the same looks, too.

"Don't ask me, they've been staring at me like that for a while," I said irritably.

"Nothing to worry about, Nico Robin," Franky said, flipping his hair. "It's just we found out something interesting about two _certain_ people."

I cocked my eyebrow at them. "Eh?"

I glanced at Robin, who had a calm and collected expression. For some reason, she didn't seem as confused as I was. I might have been imagining things, but I thought I sensed annoyance in her eyes.

"Oh, I see," she finally said as she turned, heading to her room. "I find it childish when people get into others' business."

She stopped in her tracks. "Very childish."

The group no longer stared at us after that, as if intimidated by what Robin had said. I shot them a glare before opening the door to the crow's nest and climbing the stairs. I agreed with her.

…..

_Hiii guys c:! So I want to apologize to the people who reviewed and I didn't reply to them. There was some kind of problem with my reviews, and not all of them were appearing, so to the ones who reviewed before I updated the last chapter, I apologize! And too bad many of you are called "Guest" LOL. I'll try to make it obvious to who I'm replying, so I hope you'll recognize my reply to you. Here we go 8D!_

_**Guest [reviewed on the 15**__**th**__** of August]: **__I hope you like what I'm putting between Zoro and Robin so far, and it's enough to satisfy your want for the story to be about them! And it is, to a certain extent. And thank you so much ;D! Yeah, Robin is a strong character, so hopefully I wrote it well. I'm not sure what Nami and Robin moment you're referring to, but regardless, I'm glad you're enjoying it 8D!_

_**Guest [reviewed on the 18**__**th**__** of August, today]:**__ AHHH! It makes me so incredibly happy to hear that you want it to go on q-q Thank you very much!_

_**Roronoa Robin: **__Omg q-q one of your all time favorites? I've said this tons of times, but that makes me SO FREAKING HAPPY! Thank you so much! And actually, in the English sub as well, they have the exact same voices (in my opinion) so I suspect they might have the same voice actress, but I haven't checked. I'm glad you think that, I really do hope I portrayed her well! Ehehe, indeed, you got it :33 She's suspecting something going on between Robin and Zoro. Phew, thank God! I'm happy to know you don't think they're OOC. I do try to keep them in character. Thank you 8D! _

_And lastly, thank you all for your kind reviews and for favoriting/following my story C:! I'm sorry this chapter is short, but I hope you enjoyed it nonetheless!_


	10. Chapter 10

**Robin's point of view**

I gripped my book and walked into the kitchen after deciding to stay up a while longer. Although I knew deep down their intentions were good, the way they acted was not only frustrating, but Zoro wasn't even aware of what they had meant by their mischievous behavior. I made my coffee in silence. Not long after I finished making it, Nami came in, closing the door behind her.

"Robin," she began as she took a seat. "Did we make you mad?"

I picked up my mug and sat across from her, opening my book. I glanced up at her. "Not mad. Slightly irritated."

She gave me an apologetic look, but it quickly turned into curiosity. "Olvia and I have been talking. We have a theory."

I already had an idea of what that "theory" was. I looked at her with a blunt expression, waiting patiently. She put her elbow on the table and rested her cheek on the palm of her hand. A smile slowly crept onto her lips.

"We believe you and a certain sleep-wacko are fond of each other," she finally said, letting out a gentle snicker. I let out a breath and positioned myself the way she was. We sat there for a while, simply staring at each other. She kept waiting for my response.

"What makes you think that?" I finally asked. She lifted her eyebrows and chuckled.

"Ohh Robin," she said, shaking her head slightly, then turning serious. "Are you denying it?"

I gave her a smile and turned my attention to the book.

"I don't want my coffee to get cold," I told her as I took a sip from it, then flipped through the pages of the book. I wasn't paying much attention to what page I stopped at. She kept staring at me. Letting out a sigh, I closed my book and focused my gaze on her.

"I'm not," I answered her question. "I'm not denying anything."

Although I might have been fond of him, part of their "theory" remained unconfirmed. I decided it was time to change the subject.

"How long will it take to get to the island?" I asked. She sighed, as if unsatisfied with my answer and the change of subject.

"A week," she said with a yawn. She got up and let out a not-so-innocent giggle.

"I wonder if he's as oblivious as he seems," she said before leaving the kitchen. _I wonder_. Looking into my mug, I noticed that I'd already finished all of my coffee. After washing it, I picked up my book and exited the kitchen after her.

"Oh, and Nami," I called out to her before she disappeared into our room. "Go easy on him. He hasn't slept properly in days."

She knew I was referring to the fact that she had given him a whole week to keep watch. She smiled and gave me a nod.

"I'll let him know tomorrow," she told me and walked into our room. I followed her shortly after and found my mom already asleep. Although we were similar in many ways, she was quite the heavy sleeper, unlike me. I chuckled and readied myself to sleep as well.

_"Mom?" I called out as I walked into our room. She wasn't there. I looked in the kitchen, then the aquarium, then the library. I couldn't find her anywhere. I started to feel paranoid. I searched all around the ship but there was no sign of her. __**No, not again! **__I thought as I headed to the men's quarter to wake them up. Before I entered, I saw a ship appear from the distance. A man was standing on the deck with mom beside him, handcuffed and beaten._

_"Mom?!" I yelled, crossing my arms. My eyes widened as I looked at my hands. Why weren't arms sprouting from the man? Why couldn't I use my powers?! I tried and tried, but it was pointless. I had lost my devil fruit power. I rushed to the men's quarters, but there was no one there either. I ran around the ship frantically, but concluded that I was the only one there. After looking back at the ship that my mother was on, I noticed the rest of my crew on board it, too. They were handcuffed and unconscious. The man that held my mother looked at me and laughed. He held a dagger to her neck and was ready to kill her._

_"STOP!"_

My eyes shot open. I blinked a few times and looked at my surroundings. I heaved a sigh of relief and closed my eyes again, taking deep breaths. After calming down, I sat up and noticed my mom sitting on the edge of my bed, reading.

"Good morning," she greeted quietly as she closed her book. She took one look at me and her expression turned into one of concern. "Are you alright?"

"Yes, I'm fine. I had an unpleasant dream, that's all," I explained. I had found out something about myself since I joined the crew: that people can't tell when I'm having a nightmare. Nami would only notice something was wrong when I woke up. In a way, I found that inconvenient, because I would prefer someone waking me up and freeing me from the dream. But at the same time, it was convenient since this way I didn't worry or disturb anyone.

She placed her hand on my head and rubbed it. "Would you like to talk about it?"

"No, I'd rather not," I told her and gave her a smile. I knew that I had had that dream due to my concern about being separated from her again. Although I'd lived most of my life with no one to rely on, I wanted some more time with my mother. There were many things I wanted to know about her and share with her.

"Then, shall we water the plants outside?" she asked, getting up and placing her book on the desk. I agreed.

After washing up and changing, I met her outside. It was still a little after the sun came out and no one else was awake. She was standing by the railing, closing her eyes. Although I'd gotten over the shock of finding out she was alive, I still found it quite surreal.

"Ready?" she asked when she opened her eyes. I nodded and we got the watering cans ready. She started telling me what she and more Ohara researchers had discovered and where they'd gone long ago, before the buster call incident. I watered and listened carefully. She seemed so happy as she talked to me about this, but I could also sense a hint of sorrow in what she was saying. I couldn't blame her. When she finished, she put the watering can down and stretched her arms upwards.

"It felt good to talk about it," she told me, smiling. She then turned her head towards the deck, where Zoro was. He'd woken up and begun training. Immediately I knew what the next conversation was going to be about, so I tried thinking of something to talk about before she had the chance. I did not want to have to say it again after telling Nami.

"How do you like the books we have?" I asked as casually as I could.

"I'm enjoying them very much. You've got quite the collection, as I've said before," she answered. She beat me to it this time.

"You seem to really dislike people sticking their noses into your business," she commented, obviously referring to what I'd said earlier.

"Indeed I do."

"But I'm your mom, so I think I deserve to get into your business, at least a little," she said with a smile. I took a deep breath and looked away. This issue was starting to get on my nerves.

"I'd like to go read, so if you'll excuse me," I told her, setting down the watering can and walking back to our room. After getting my book and not bothering to get any coffee, I went out to the deck and sat down. I knew that Nami and my mother wouldn't be giving up, and would try pushing me to talk and tell them what they wanted to hear. Not many things got on my nerves that easily, but I was quite annoyed by their behavior. They were trying to help out, but I found it unnecessary. They didn't seem to understand that I didn't want their help, although I appreciated them trying.

I noticed Zoro walking over, drinking water.

"Could you tell me why the hell they're looking at us like that?" he asked as he glanced up at my mom, who was leaning on the door of the girls' quarter. I sighed and looked up at him, deciding to act oblivious.

"I wonder."

"Look, clearly you know something from what you said earlier," he said. "They're getting on my nerves. What's the deal?!"

"They have a strange theory about us," I explained bluntly. "Why not ask Nami? I doubt she'll hide it from you."

"Theory? The heck…" He put the cap back on the water bottle and headed to the men's quarter to wake Sanji up since it was breakfast time. I heard a ruckus in their room, and guessed they were having a fight. Sanji burst the door open but softened when he saw my mom and me.

Once everyone had waken up and gotten ready for breakfast, I noticed my mom heading to Chopper and asking him something. He jumped and led her to his room.

"Is everything alright?" I asked after entering after them. Mom nodded, explaining that her wrist was a little hurt. Chopper quickly tended to her and wrapped it.

"Make sure you take this before eating breakfast every day, okay?" Chopper told her, handing her some medicine. She nodded, patting his head and thanking him.

"That…doesn't make me…happy, you-," he was interrupted by Sanji's shout that breakfast was ready.

….

_Oblivious Zoro…irritated Robin…c: Ehehehe…_

_There was quite a gap between the last time I updated and this one. Like, comparing to how I was updating pretty frequently. Anyway, thank you for the follows and for reading my story! Hope you enjoyed this chapter 83!_

_83 is a face. Like :3 but with shades. Just in case you didn't know._

_Lemme know what you think 8D! SUNGLASSES EVERYWHERE c8! _


	11. Chapter 11

_So…school started –Siiiiiiiiiiiiighhhhhhh-. I HOPE IT'LL BE A GOOD YEAR C:! My updating is so unorganized c8…Anyway, so I'm sorry this chapter is like extra short '-'. It has both Zoro and Robin's points of views in this one. I hope you'll enjoy it 8D!_

….

**Zoro's point of view**

I do admit I was acting a tad bit too dense. But although I had a slight idea of what was going on, I actually was genuinely confused at the beginning. After Robin practically scolded them for getting into issues that didn't concern them, an idea explaining what they had meant by their dumb looks sparked in my mind. And to be honest, I tried my best to get rid of that idea, but unluckily it was the one that made the most sense. The other excuses I'd made up for the situation were pretty stupid after all.

"WOOOAH!" I heard Luffy shout from the deck. I came down from the crow's nest to see what he was going on about. As soon as I stepped onto the lawn, I saw two sea kings peering down on us from each side of the ship.

"IT'S…HUGE!" Usopp yelled, shivering. I snickered, pulling out my swords.

"That'll be good food," I said.

"YEAH! LET'S EAT HIM!" Luffy cried as he swung his arm around multiple times before throwing a _pistol_ attack at the sea king's face. Gripping my swords, I stormed at the other sea king, easily slicing him and getting him ready to be cooked.

"Oi, why didn't you call me to come beat it up?" Sanji came out of the kitchen.

"WHO CARES? FOOD!" Luffy shouted, cheering and raising his arms in excitement.

"Because we don't need a dumb cook getting in our way," I told him.

"Ehh?!" he exclaimed. We had a fight and it was broken up by Nami's punches. After having breakfast and training, I decided to go talk to Nami. She, or perhaps Robin's mom, would be the only ones to tell me whether my guess was right or not. And I was getting impatient.

I went into the room that she drew her maps in, not bothering to knock. She looked up with an irritated expression.

"Knock! How many times do I have to tell you idiots to KNOCK!" she snapped.

"Yeah fine, whatever. Listen," I began, closing the door behind me. She seemed confused, not to mention, really annoyed. "Robin's mom and you have been creeping me out. And Franky would give me looks that aren't only unusual, but they're freaky as hell. Care to explain this to me?"

She took off her glasses and set them down, then turned her attention to me.

"All these looks and you _still_ don't have it figured out?" she asked. "You're just as dense as Luffy, it appears."

"Who cares?! Are you gonna tell me or not?" I yelled.

She sighed, as if giving up hope on me understanding. But in fact I did have an idea; I only wanted to confirm it.

"Well?!" I pushed.

"UGH YOU'RE SO ANNOYING! LIKE SERIOUSLY, HOW ARE YOU NOT AWARE?" she shouted. I didn't even get why she was so mad.

"Geez," she said, then walked over to me and punched the back of my head. "YOU and ROBIN actually LIKE each other, right?!"

_Oh crap_. The point of asking her _was_ so I could know if what I thought was true. But actually hearing her say it was extremely uncomfortable. Dense. Act dense. Act like you know nothing.  
"WHAT?!" I yelled. "ARE YOU SERIOUS?"

She threw another punch at me. "YOU THINK I CAN JOKE ABOUT THIS?!"

"WHY DON'T YOU IDIOTS MIND YOUR OWN DAMN BUSINESS?" I raged at her, scoffing and getting ready to leave the room. I found out what I needed to know, and that was enough.

"WHERE ARE YOU GOING? I'M NOT DONE TALKING TO YOU!" she yelled, rushing to the door and stepping in front of me.

"What?" I groaned.

She crossed her arms over her chest and gave me a disgusted look. "You suck at pretending not to know anything. Look, it's absolutely fine if you actually like her, it's really no big deal. Geez, you're annoying!"

My stomach turned as I growled at her and gently pushed her out of the way. After getting out and spotting Robin sitting on the deck, I rolled my eyes in frustration and walked up to the crow's nest. No way in hell was I going to admit anything. Why was I wasting my time on this anyway?

**Robin's point of view**

I came out of the room after taking a bath and heard Nami and Zoro shouting at each other, but decided not to interfere. I was the one who had suggested he talk to her, but it was better for me to stay out of it. After settling down on my chair, I stared at the words in the book I'd brought with me, but my mind suddenly blanked out. I was looking at the words, but I wasn't reading them. _Tomorrow…_

"Robin?"

I looked away from my book and saw my mother standing over me. She had a brush in one of her hands and a towel in the other.

"Your hair is still wet after your bath," she pointed out. "I'll brush it for you."

Nami had offered to do that for me before, but I'd never agreed to it. Even so, I didn't want to refuse this time. I smiled and sat up. I was twenty eight years old and had my mother brushing my hair. Chuckling quietly, I closed my eyes. I'd never gotten to experience this before, so I honestly didn't care that I was a grown woman. A mother's affection is something I hadn't felt very much in my life.

She gently dried my hair with the towel and started brushing it. I opened my book and proceeded with my reading. Nami came out of the room and out of the corner of my eye; I could see her flash a smile towards us. I started feeling my hair being bunched up, so I looked up at my mom.

She had a small black hair tie around her wrist. I faced front again. After neatening it up, she carefully tied my hair back. I almost never did any hairstyles like Nami did, and always kept it down. A change was quite nice, I thought. And although my hair was short, it looked fine tied back.

"Thank you," I told her as I set my book down and got up. She nodded, giving me a warm smile.

"Lunch's ready!" Sanji announced from the kitchen, and as usual, everyone rushed to it before Luffy got to the food first. After settling around the table, we waited for Zoro to come down from the crow's nest. He would've heard Sanji's announcement. Nami kept slapping Luffy's hands away from the food with the help of Usopp. When he finally came, we began the meal.

"We should arrive at the island tomorrow morning," Nami said.

"I really appreciate you taking me," Mom replied. "It's a great help."

"How do you know the government won't come back for you there?" I asked quietly.

She took a sip of her water and looked over at me. "I don't."

"But I'd like to settle down in a quiet place and catch up on what's happening in the world. There's so much to read and to study," she explained. "I don't want to run away anymore."

I understood what she felt perfectly. It was something I'd wanted very much throughout my life, and I was finally able to find my place. I wanted her to be able to do that as well.

I nodded and proceeded to eat my share of the food.

…..

"I see it! I see the island!" Luffy shouted the following morning. He was sitting on top of Sunny's head. I walked closer to the front of the ship in order to get a better look. There it was. There was the place in which I was going to part ways with my mother. Again.

….

_**Guest (reviewed on the 22**__**nd**__** of August):**__ YAY I'M SO GLAD YOU LIKE IT THAT MUCH q-q! You know, I totally agree. ZoRobin moments are awesome c: Innocent ones that is. LOL. Yeah, I want Robin to feel her mother's affection, so I'm happy you feel that way! And don't worry about it, it's totally okay C:! This made me really happy, thank you for your kind words and for taking the time to review ;-;!_


	12. Chapter 12

_Hurrah! Another update C:! I feel like I might have made Robin kind of OOC. I hope I didn't, but she's kind of tricky to write when it comes to feelings and expressing things. Well, I hope you enjoyed the last update. Here we go ;D!_

**Robin's point of view**

"Everyone, off the ship!" Nami instructed as soon as the Sunny was docked. Taking a deep breath, I followed them off of the ship and onto the island. It was indeed very small, but there was a very cozy looking village ahead of us. Mom followed us shortly, wearing her jacket and hat. Nami had given her a bag to put a few books I'd given her in. We headed to the village, but the closer we got to it, the more the dreaded feeling inside me increased.

Mom was looking at the houses carefully, until she spotted one with a distinct roof that was painted blue. We followed her to it, and I watched her go up the stairs to the door. She knocked on it and we waited. We heard footsteps getting closer to the door. After it was opened, a woman with dark brown hair appeared which was tied in a loose bun. She had a kind face, and there were a few scars on her cheeks.

"You made it, finally," the woman said, closing the door behind her and walking towards my mom. After greeting each other and hugging, Mom turned back to us.

"This is my daughter, Robin," she introduced me, and then pointed out the rest of the crew. She was taken aback by Brook, but then greeted us and invited us in. We walked into her house, which was small, but friendly and neat. We tried fitting in her living room. Some of us had to sit on the floor instead of the couches.

"Cora, thank you very much for willing to have me here," Mom said, taking off her hat and setting it on the couch's hand rest. Chopper, Luffy, and Nami and Usopp had taken over the couches, and the rest of us sat silently on the floor. I looked at my mother as she spoke to her friend, then turned my head away and closed my eyes. Hearing someone settle down near me, I slowly opened my eyes to look. Zoro was sitting beside me, but between us was quite a distance. He crossed his legs and closed his eyes. I turned my head slowly back to my mom, and a slight smile appeared on my face. Although it might have been unobvious to the rest, I knew that this was his way of reassuring me.

"Excuse me, Cora," Nami said, pointing at her log pose. "How long does it take for a log pose to set on this island?"

Cora blinked a few times before answering. "One day."

Nami cringed and let out a sigh. I noticed her glancing at me, a slight guilty look on her face. "In that case…we can't stay here very long."

"Why don't I show you around the village before leaving? You might find a few things that could benefit you in your trip," Cora suggested, getting up. Luffy was thrilled with the idea, and immediately ran out the door. The village was full of very friendly people, and I could see a forest behind all the houses. There was also a library, and quite a big one for such a small village. Chopper immediately ran into it. I was also happy to see such a big amount of books, but I took my time. Many of the books talked about the histories of islands, which is what interested me most. Some of them were about the climates in many places, and some talked about medicines and unusual remedies. Luffy, who wasn't interested in reading, was running back and forth between the isles, trying to catch Usopp.

I glanced behind me and found Zoro looking through the books. I raised my eyebrows in surprise, but then noticed he was only pulling them out, taking a look at their covers, then shoving them back in. I chuckled at how frustrated he looked after a while of doing the same thing over and over again. He finally shoved the last book in and grumbled.

"Careful with the books," I said, turning my attention back to the shelf I'd been scanning. He muttered something under his breath and stomped out of the library. After getting out of the library, Cora showed us around more houses, and introduced us to more people. When it was time for lunch, Sanji invited Cora to come along and have a meal with us on the Sunny.

"Oh wow, this is amazing!" Cora exclaimed after taking a bite of the dish. Sanji thanked her then wiggled away to Nami. When everyone, minus Luffy, was finished eating, Nami spoke.

"It would be better if we left soon," she said, getting up. "I don't want us to sail off at night, and I don't want us to sleep overnight either. It's a risk."

Everyone agreed and we quietly got off the ship again. The crew stood silently in front of the ship while I walked to my mom. I smiled at her and gave her a hug, which she returned.

"Robin," she whispered softly. "This is our second home now."

I felt a chill run through my entire body and my eyes began to sting. I let out a deep sigh and felt a few tears escape my eyes. But I didn't mind it this time. She placed her hand on my head and rubbed it.

"I'm so glad you're alive," I told her. She nodded and began crying herself.

"So am I, Robin."

We parted and simply looked at each other. After wiping our tears she gave me a slight smirk.

"He is quite endearing," she said quietly, so only I could hear it. I couldn't help but let out a chuckle. I silently agreed.

…..

We left the island and headed towards our next destination. Surprisingly, Nami stopped talking to me about Zoro. She stopped nagging, which was a relief to me, but I did find it quite strange. Nami was a persistent girl after all. I also observed Zoro's situation, and found that Franky had also stopped with the odd looks he'd been giving him for a while. Although it was a good thing, I did find it a bit surprising that they gave up so easily. But that wasn't the only thing I noticed.

It appeared that Zoro was avoiding me.

I investigated the situation a bit further. Many times he fell asleep in the crow's nest, but I wasn't able to find him there recently. He would do his training, then immediately go back into the men's quarter. Occasionally he spent time on the deck, but only if I wasn't there. I decided not to make any kind of move until he was ready to speak to me again. Although, I didn't know how long that would take.

"Gonna sleep inside," he said to Luffy, who had wakened him from his nap on the deck. Luffy seemed a bit confused, but then ran off to Sanji after giving Zoro a slight concerned look. I knew I'd done nothing to upset him. I was aware of what I did and what I didn't do, and nothing I did would have caused his strange behavior. Perhaps he's taking time to think, or to convince himself of something. I did not know.

A week had passed, and there was no change in his attitude. It irritated me in a way, but I kept calm and didn't say anything about it. I was starting to doubt how sure I was that I hadn't done anything to upset him. After Thriller Bark, we were supposed to head to Fishman Island, but then many things happened with my mother and such. Now we were heading there, but it seemed that it wouldn't be as easy as we had expected it to be.

"Sabaody Archipelago, huh?" Nami said as we approached the island.

"Woah, what are these bubbles?" Usopp exclaimed. I made my way off the ship once it stopped. Bubbles were forming from the ground and floating upwards, and we could hear popping noises due to the bursting of the bubbles when they went up too high. There were also trees with numbers on them. We were docked near one that had the number 41 on it. Zoro also jumped off the ship.

"Oi, where are you going?!" Sanji and Usopp called after him.

"A walk," he replied.

"YOU NO SENSE OF DIRECTION IDIOT! YOU'LL GET LOST!" Sanji yelled. I could see Zoro's face forming a deep frown.

"There are numbers on these trees! Geez, what do you think I am?" Zoro snapped.

"Wow, I'm surprised he thought that much about it," Sanji said.

"Well alright," they said, waving. "Have a safe trip!"

He stiffened and stomped away angrily. I saw him glance up at the tree before disappearing. Apparently, there were many known pirates on this island as well, with bounties that went over 100,000 belis. Such as Trafalgar Law, Eustass Kid, Killer, and X Drake.

Nami and I had gone shopping that day, absolutely clueless about what we were going to be facing on this island.

...

_As you can see, I'll be adding the incident that happened in Sabaody Archipelago in the next Chapter, hopefully. Kk hope you enjoyed it 8D! _


	13. Chapter 13

_So, I had to watch YouTube videos and parts of episodes to write most of this. Anyway, credits to the awesome creator of One Piece, Oda! Some of this is my idea, but many of the events are based on the series. Hope you'll like it C:!_

**Zoro's point of view**

Drinking sake, I walked through a town I had ended up in coincidentally. There were a bunch of rookies all around the island. Some were having fights; some were in bars, some were threatening citizens. I came across a guy who looked pretty ridiculous. He had a dumb haircut and a clear fish tank on his head. Yeah, it was a fish tank. Or I thought it was. I gulped down my drink and heard people around me muttering things to themselves and asking who I was. There was a collapsed man near him. I suddenly stopped in front of the fish-tank-man, who was facing me.

"Huh?" I said, looking at him. "Do you want some directions or something?"

Everyone around me shrieked, and he pointed his gun at me. As soon as he pulled the trigger, I dodged it, gripping my swords and running to his side. As I was about to cut him, a woman with pink hair grabbed me.

"A kid?!" I exclaimed as we fell over.

"Oneechaaaan! Why did you die?! Oneeechaaan!" she yelled. My face was covered in red and I was about to shove her off me when she whispered, "Stay still."

"You tried to attack the Celestial Dragon-sama? Of course you'd die!" she wailed.

"I hit him?" fish-tank-man said. "For a moment, it seemed as though he dodged it…"

"Well," he continued. "As long as he's dead, it's fine."

After he left I got up, wiping the red stuff off me. "Why'd you get in my way?!"

"Huh?! Don't say we got in your way, dumbass!" the girl snapped. "What the hell were you trying to do?! Do you WANT the admirals to come to this island?!"

"Tomato juice," I mumbled to myself. _Wait a minute…wasn't she a kid?_

She kept scolding me and saying I caused them trouble. Well, whatever. I stood and picked up the guy who'd been shot.

"Where's the hospital?" I asked. She told me to leave him, but I kept going, ignoring her.

"A pirate helping someone?" she said. "I've never heard of that before."

I kept going. He was pretty badly injured.

….

**Robin's point of view**

We ended up meeting Rayleigh, the Pirate King's former second hand man. He was an old man, but still very strong. He started telling Luffy about the man named Shanks, and how he had been on the Pirate King's ship before. Apparently, Shanks had talked to Rayleigh about Luffy before, which made Luffy even more interested. He clutched his hat, a wide grin on his face.

"Shanks!" he said. Not long after their talk, Usopp wanted to ask a question.

"Pops!" he called Rayleigh. "I have to ask. Is the One Piece treasure…Is it…Is it really-"

"USSOOPPP!" Luffy yelled angrily. "I DON'T WANT TO HEAR WHERE THE TREASURE IS! I DON'T EVEN WANT TO HEAR IF THERE IS A TREASURE OR NOT!"

We all stared at him, not exactly dumbfounded, but interested in what he was saying.

"I don't know anything about it, but everyone sets off to sea to find out for themselves! If pops were to tell us anything here, then I'll QUIT on becoming Pirate King! If we're gonna have a boring adventure like that, then I would rather die!"

Usopp freaked out after hearing what Luffy said, and immediately changed his mind about wanting to know. It was quite the scene, seeing Luffy express himself that way. And I agreed. At the time, everyone was at the bar together, and it was the first time I had been anywhere near Zoro for the past couple of weeks. He didn't seem quite as distant as he had been on the ship, and I was thankful for that.

I went outside after what happened and headed towards the Sunny. I had a few books I wanted to return, and a particular one to bring back with me. I was planning to spend some time in the bar. I stopped in my tracks and waited. Someone was behind me.

"Robin," a deep voice called out. I turned around to face Zoro, who was holding a bottle of sake, then waited for him to start talking. He had a very blunt look on his face as he rested his hand on his katana. I didn't feel awkward or uncomfortable, but slightly irritated. He had taken his time to stop avoiding me, and now he was taking his time to speak.

I stared back at him just as bluntly.

"Is there something you want to say?" I finally asked.

"Uhuh," he replied. "I've been thinking. _A lot_. And I don't know if you're aware of this, but I'm not much of a thinker. I don't usually spend much of my time thinking about what I feel or what I should do."

"I'm aware of that," I said.

"And I've come to the conclusion," he continued after a short silence, "that I feel something different towards you."

I felt an uncontrollable rush of pleasure. I could tell that it had taken a lot out of him to say that. It was more than obvious. I expected him to say something else, but it seemed that that was all he was going to say. The blunt expression on his face remained.

"Zoro," I began. "I feel something different towards you as well."

His eyes seemed to widen ever so slightly, so that if you weren't looking carefully, you wouldn't have noticed. We both stayed calm and the cool expressions didn't seem to want to leave our faces.

"Yosh," he finally said, turning around and flicking the bottle cap off.

"Alright," I replied, clutching my books tightly and turning around as well. With that, he went back to the bar and I made my way to the Sunny. After arriving, I let out the chuckle I'd been holding in all the way. That was, indeed, the most frigid confession two people could make. Although, if I were expecting anything to happen, I wouldn't have imagined it happening any other way.

…..

Our captain punched a celestial dragon. Although I agreed that he indeed deserved it, there were consequences. The island was soon covered with marines and admirals. The government had made an incredible number of robots that looked exactly like the Warlord called Bartholomew Kuma, and they were called the Pacifista. Their power and strength were incredible. Zoro, Luffy, and Sanji fought one, and they had to go all-out with their strength in order to defeat it. Not long after that, though, a man named Sentoumaru, who was on the government's side, came with another Pacifista, and he used the power of Haki. He called the Pacifista PX-1.

"Everyone, run away!" Luffy commanded. "We can't stay together…split up and RUN!"

We tried running away as Luffy fought against Sentoumaru, but not long after that Zoro was attacked. He fell over, the dust covering the person responsible for knocking him over.

"What?!" Usopp shrieked, aiming his slingshot at whoever was there. "Who-Who are you?! Get away from Zoro, you freak!"

"Z-Zoro-san! Zoro-san was hit by a beam!" Brook exclaimed.

I then realized who it was. "Kizaru?!"

He was an admiral that had eaten a devil fruit. He was a light man, and was able to shoot beams. I breathed heavily as I watched him lift his foot, getting ready to step on Zoro's back. Not only was he going to step on it, but with his power, he was able to kill him. Light was forming from his foot, and if he hit him, he would pierce right through his back.

"He can shoot beams, too!" Franky shouted. "This is bad, we've gotta do something! HE'S SO CLOSE TO ZORO! ZORO'S GONNA DIE!"

"OH NO! ZORO'S IN TROUBLE!" Luffy cried out. "UUSSOOOPPPP!"

"You…STOP IT!" Usopp shrieked at Kizaru. He immediately aimed his slingshot at the admiral and shot. It went right through him, because he was made of light. He shot and he shot, but it was pointless.

"Damn it, WHY?!" Usopp yelled, shooting like mad. Brook came next with his sword, but his weapon wouldn't do any good.

"I can't stab him either!" Brook said. "What do we do?!"

"It's useless," Kizaru replied. "I ate the Pika-Pika fruit. I'm a light man."

"A light man?!" Franky exclaimed.

"You're kidding, right?!" Nami whimpered. "Zoro's gonna die!"

"ZORO! RUN!" Chopper cried out, tears covering his face.

"My body…won't…" Zoro managed to say.

"It's no use! That guy's at his limit already!" Sanji yelled.

"_Viente Fluer!"_ I yelled, crossing my arms. I sprouted arms out of the ground from either side of Zoro and started rolling him away.

"Alright!" Usopp cried. "Great, Robin!"

I felt a rush of relief as I kept moving him away from Kizaru, but due to his power, he was able to teleport from where he was and reappear on top of Zoro again. He stepped on his back, making me unable to pull him away anymore. I clutched Zoro's shirt and tried to get him away desperately.

"I won't let you get away," Kizaru said. He had one foot on Zoro and raised the other in order to kill him. I clutched harder but it was useless. I couldn't do anything.

"You'll die now," he said, lifting his leg higher. As he was about to shoot the beam from his leg, Rayleigh suddenly appeared, using his own leg to get Kizaru's out of the way. The beam shot towards the sky, making a massive explosion.

Kizaru set his foot down on the ground. "So, now you decide to appear…Dark King, Rayleigh?"

"I won't let you take out these youngsters," Rayleigh replied. "Their era is only beginning!"

"POPS!" Luffy cried out.

"He saved him!" Franky said.

"Thank God…" Chopper exclaimed, still crying. I relaxed my arms, feeling remarkably relieved. I let out a short breath, feeling tired. _Thank God…_

Kizaru and Rayleigh were having a brief talk when Luffy spoke up.

"USOPP! BROOK!" he yelled. "TAKE ZORO AND RUN!"

"Right!" Usopp said, bending over and picking Zoro up. "Brook, let's go!"

"Everyone, only think of how to escape!" he continued. "Right now…we can't…beat these guys!"

"Oh, great. That's really annoying," Kizaru commented. There was a Pacifista near Franky, Nami, and Sanji. Franky used the last of his Cola-fuel to send it flying away before we all ran off.

"Pops, thank you!" Luffy cried.

"No problem! I'll be praying for your safety!" Rayleigh replied. Kizaru was trying to do something to Zoro and his group when Rayleigh interrupted him.

"I won't let you pass," he said.

"PX-1!" I heard Sentoumaru say. "Roronoa is half-dead! Go take him out!"

The Pacifista started running after them. Sanji left Nami to Franky and ran after Zoro's group as well. Luffy, Chopper and I ran a different way than they did, and we couldn't see what was happening. We suddenly saw two explosions coming from where they were. Luffy was suddenly attacked by Sentoumaru.

"You don't have time to worry about your friends!" he shouted. Chopper stopped running.

"How is he able to hit a rubberman like that?!" he shrieked.

"Chopper!" I cried out. "Don't stop!"

"SANJI!" We heard a yell coming from Usopp. Turning our attention to them, we saw the Pacifista holding Sanji with one of his hands, ready to shoot a beam straight into his chest. And he did. Chopper suddenly turned into his human form and ran towards Luffy.

"Chopper! Don't do it!" I called after him.

"STOP IT, YOU PEOPLE!" he yelled. He had eaten three of his rumble balls, which are the things that made him able to turn into different forms. I had heard of this happening before, and that eating three of them at the same time made him turn into a tremendous sized reindeer, where he wouldn't be able to control himself anymore. Once he turned into his form completely, he let out a loud roar that was almost deafening.

I ran to Luffy and picked him up. "Luffy, watch out!"

I noticed that the Pacifista was about to shoot another beam towards Usopp and the others when the real Bartholomew Kuma appeared.

"Wait, PX-1," he commanded. PX-1 stopped. I could tell it was the real him because of the Bible he held. Zoro, who had been collapsed for a while, slowly lifted himself up and looked at Kuma.

"So, you survived, Roronoa," he said.

"Thanks to your mercy…" Zoro replied, breathing heavily.

"O-Oi, Zoro…there's no time to talk…you need to leave!" Usopp urged.

Kuma took off the glove he wore on his right hand.

"If you were to go on a vacation, where would you like to go?" Kuma asked Zoro.

"Oi…Zoro…if you don't hurry up and run…" Usopp pleaded. Kuma raised his hand and hit Zoro with it.

Zoro disappeared. He literally vanished.

"Huh…Zoro?" Usopp called out, looking around.

"Zoro…san?" Brook said.

"Zoro? ZORO?! ZORO!" Usopp freaked out as he frantically looked around.

"Zoro…vanished!" he said. He clutched his slingshot and looked up at Kuma. "DAMN YOU! WHAT DID YOU DO TO ZORO?!"

He began to cry. "HE WAS…HE WAS JUST…RIGHT HERE!"

"Z-Zoro?" Luffy whispered. "Zoro?!"

"ZORO!" he cried out. I looked back and noticed Chopper's hand coming down to attack us. Quickly I grabbed Luffy and got out of the way. This was a mess. We were in a huge mess.

"Stop it, Chopper! Don't be reckless!" I shouted.

"ZORO! WHERE DID YOU GO?!" Luffy yelled, turning to Sentoumaru. "OI! WHAT'D HE DO TO ZORO? WHERE'D HE DISAPPEAR TO?!"

After Sentoumaru claimed he was the most tight-lipped man in the world, he told us that people are sent flying somewhere faraway. No one other than the person who disappeared knew where, though.

Gradually, my crewmates began to disappear. One after the other. They got hit by Kuma's palm and were sent away. I was in utter shock. First it was Zoro, then it was Brook. Usopp…Sanji…Franky…Nami…Chopper…

Kuma began to walk towards me. I slowly backed away, then turned to run.

"Stop it…" Luffy pleaded. "Stop it…"

"PLEASE!" he cried out. "STOP THIS!"

Kuma was too fast. He raised his hand as Luffy rushed towards me.

"ROBIN!" Luffy shouted.

"LUFFY!" I yelled, reaching out to him. It was too late.

….

_Whew. C: So, they finally told each other –CHEERS-. I didn't want to put a "I love you" or "I like you" kind of confession, because I just really don't think that'll be the way it would go, if it ever did. So, I hope you weren't disappointed in any kind of way, because I feel like it was a pretty good way of doing it between two not-so-affectionate people. Hopefully you liked it, and thank you for everyone's support, I deeply appreciate it!_

_Let me know what you think 8D! _


	14. Chapter 14

_**Hiii Guys c:! So, this is the last Chapter. Thank you so much to all the reviewers, the people who favorited/followed it, and to all the readers in general. I had a good time writing this story, especially since Zoro and Robin are two I ship together. I also had to watch things to write some of this, so credits to the MARVELOUS ODA c:! And would also like to thank my mom for helping me by editing my story and improving it. Thank you very much! **_

_**I hope the ending will satisfy you!**_

_**This has been fun 8D!**_

….

**Zoro's point of view**

_What's up with this place? The atmosphere…the air…it's all making it hard to breathe._

_Luffy…oh crap. This isn't good. My body felt too exhausted. I let Kuma do something to me. Where am I, anyways? Hell? I'm not feeling any pain. I just feel plain tired. I can't movie, either. I wonder if everyone else managed to escape…dammit. And Robin, too. She tried to save me. I have a feeling they all ended up being separated._

_Oh, right, I even told her how I felt. It's not like I'm expecting it to turn into anything big, but something inside me was kinda glad it wasn't one sided. The way I said it wasn't too expressing, but I wouldn't have confessed with a bouquet of flowers behind my back and a blushing face. Tch, yeah right. I did consider ignoring it, but I knew better than to do that. We were gonna be on the same ship for, I imagined, a pretty long time and I was aware that what I felt wasn't going to go away. I might as well come clear, I thought. Now…that aside, I need to figure out where I am._

So I turned out to be on a dull island with leafless, dead trees covering it. Buildings had apparently collapsed and rocks were all over the ground. And guess who ended up with me?

That pink-haired-ghost girl named Peruna. Perony? Oh, whatever. She was sent all the way here by Kuma as well, apparently. _What fantastic luck_.

After being on the island for a while, I got news. Bad news that concerned Luffy's brother, Ace, who was going to be executed. It made me pissed that it happened especially in a time like this, where I wasn't even with him. But then another newspaper arrived on the island a while after the first one, and it had a picture of Luffy holding his hat against his chest, as if praying. But I knew Luffy wouldn't just do that. I kept staring at the picture trying to figure out if there was some kind of message, but it was giving me a hard time.

"Come on!" Ghost-girl wailed. "My hands are tired, do I have to keep holding the newspaper up for you?!"  
"There must be _some_thing. It can't be just that," I whispered, focusing. After what seemed like hours of me trying to figure it out, I finally understood. We were going to meet up in Sabaody Archipelago in two years. _Geez, couldn't he have made it a little easier to understand?_

But I agreed with him. We weren't ready to go to the New World yet, and needed to become stronger. There were baboons all over the island that were skilled in using the sword. It would be a good opportunity to fight against them and train.

In the end, that Ghost-girl wasn't the only person I ended up meeting on the island. Apparently, this island was the home of my rival: Dracule Mihawk.

"I'm begging you." I bowed down to my enemy. "Please, train me in the ways of the sword!"

"I've misjudged you, Roronoa," Mihawk replied. "You ask your sworn enemy to teach you? You should be ashamed! Get out of my sight. I have no business with such a worthless man."

"It seems I've overestimated you," he continued. "What are you doing? You're only embarrassing yourself."

"I want to become stronger!" I insisted.

"You failed to beat the baboons and couldn't go out to sea," he said. I heard him pour a drink into his glass cup. "Then you crawled back here. I have nothing to teach one such as you."

Blood dripped down onto the floor. "I did defeat the baboons."

"Now, I just need to take your head!" I told him. "But I'm not so stupid to think I can beat you right now."

"I do not understand," Mihawk said. "If you still consider me your enemy, why do you bow down before me and ask me to train you? For what purpose?!"

I raised my head and looked at him. "So that I can surpass you."

"So you want me to personally train a swordsman who wants to take my own head?" He laughed. "What a strange fellow. How ridiculous! And you are still disgracing yourself."

"It would seem I have found a man truly filled with ambition."

"Hey, Ghost-girl," he said. "Tend to his wounds."

"Hey! Don't tell me what to do!" she snapped.

"The training will begin after your wounds have healed," he announced.

I didn't want to lie in bed and wait until I was recovered. There was absolutely no time to waste. I made my way out of my room and down the stairs, then headed out the door, where Mihawk was.

"No matter how much time we have, it won't be enough," I told him, placing my katana in my mouth and gripping the other two tightly. "Please begin."

"You said you defeated the baboons, right?" he said. "The baboons that have learned various sword techniques by mimicking humans. Of course there are ranks among them, and a master."

He explained to me about what they call the baboon king. He was the baboon who had imitated Mihawk's style, and had a similar sword to his.

"Sounds good," I said, walking towards the baboon king. I stormed at him. "I'll keep getting stronger!"

…..

**Robin's point of view**

I ended up on an island covered in snow. There was a countless number of little houses and construction workers. But there was something peculiar about the workers. There were children and old women working. They lifted heavy material, hammered down wooden boards, and did all the work that strong, young people would be capable of. I didn't understand. Men tried capturing me, and it was irritating. Not long after that I ended up in one of the small houses, which was cold and very unwelcoming. A young girl, no older than eight or nine years old was very friendly. She had drawings of places from her imagination and places she heard of.

"Will you tell me about your adventures, please?!" she begged. I smiled at her and nodded. She was very passionate for a girl that age, and I gladly told her about many of the places I'd been to with the crew. She was especially excited about Sky Island.

I was sitting against the wall with a blanket wrapped around me as I talked to her. When she left, I took out the vivre card that had Rayleigh's name on it and watched it move. I longed to see everyone again and hoped they were alright, as I was. I clutched it gently then put it away. I had to find a way back.

…..

After finding out about Luffy's brother, Ace, I was even more determined to find a way back to Sabaody Archipelago. But not too long after that, there was another newspaper with a picture of our captain. It didn't take me long to understand what he wanted. This was his decision, and I was going to work hard until the day I met them again. He was depending on all of us.

"Aye aye, captain," I said to myself after seeing his picture. Men from the revolutionary army had found me and told me that Monkey D. Dragon, who we found out was Luffy's father back in Water 7, wanted to meet me. I wasn't sure I'd wanted to go with them at the beginning, but in the end it seemed like a good idea.

We got to a ship that was going to take us to Baltigo. We climbed aboard and I slowly made my way to the railing. The weather was very cold, but I didn't mind it too much. After having a little talk with the men I focused my gaze on the horizon. I rubbed my hands against each other and blew into them since there was hardly any feeling left in them.

_This is going to be a long journey. I'll become a more dependable person for the sake of my crew. Luffy's decision is wise and I'm happy about it. It's true, we were defeated in Sabaody, but that will only increase our will to become stronger. After all, we have dreams to achieve. Our crew will consist of the Pirate king, the Best Swordsman, a Brave warrior of the sea, a Navigator that drew a map of the world, the Cook that visited the All Blue, the Doctor that can cure any disease, the Shipwright that built the Pirate King's ship, the Musician that lived an impossible number of years and still fulfilled his promise, and the Archeologist that discovered the real history of the world._

_The archeologist that has found the people she belonged with. The one that experienced feelings that she had only heard of and read about. And had a person to share those feelings with._

_The archeologist…who now has a home to go back to._


End file.
